The Other Sniper
by Jensen's Petunia
Summary: The Losers are still in the military, pre-comic & pre-movie. They are given orders to take on an additional sniper for their next mission. This sniper gets close to Jensen and Cougar gets jealous. Rated M for violence & language & slash.
1. Another Sniper

Thank you to **Castiel's drycleaner** for her support of this story before it was even written. And for being an awesome Beta.

It's pre-movie and pre-comic, before they 'died' and went underground. They are still a part of the military and are receiving an additional member for one mission.

This is my first fic. Please tell me what you think. Thank you.

Jensen's Petunia

* * *

They couldn't believe it. For some reason, they were getting another sniper.

"What the hell we need another sniper for? We got Cougar." Roque hated that yet another new person was coming into their midst. They had gotten Jensen just two years ago. And having to deal with him was enough to test Roque's patience on a daily basis. He had to fight his constant urge to pull out his knives and use them on Jensen every ten minutes.

"According to mission control's intel, the fortress we're going up against has doubled their guard numbers since finding the damn spy that the military implanted." Clay told his men as he walked over to where Roque was sitting on the hood of their jeep. "They want Cougar and this other guy to pick off as many as they can, then we go in, handle the rest before we extract Salvador and take him into custody." Clay gave Roque a hard look before adding, "And Roque, they want their guy back in one piece. No more missing ears. Understood?"

"Yes Colonel." Roque smirked at Clay's retreating back as he mumbled, "There are other body parts that can go missing that he won't admit are gone."

Clay walked back to the center of the clearing they were currently camping in as they awaited the arrival of the support sniper. They had been in this god-forsaken unnamable country for two days and Jensen had received a radio transmission as to why they were here only an hour before.

"Jensen." Clay indicated that his hacker should continue.

"You got it Colonel. Okay, so I wasn't able to find out very much on him. First, he doesn't exist. Second, this guy's name is Wolfe." Jensen, who was leaning against their makeshift table constructed from the trunk of a fallen tree, was speaking very quickly and was about to continue when Pooch interrupted him.

"Wait a minute, Jensen. If he doesn't exist, then how do you know his name?" Pooch took off his sunglasses so that he could wipe the sweat from his face.

"C'mon Pooch. You know me. When they don't want me to find something, it just makes it even sweeter when I do." Jensen smiled his big, goofy grin before continuing. "Anyway, this Wolfe is one bad-ass dude. From what I could find, he is the dude they send in when they absolutely want to make sure that they don't get the credit. You know the assassination of Fazel Bin Akmel?"

"Wait a minute," Clay interrupted, "he's the one who did that?"

"Yep." Jensen nodded his head in the affirmative.

"Shit." Could be heard coming from Roque.

"It wasn't the Israeli government like they want everyone to believe." Jensen took a deep breath before continuing. "But that's the only stuff I could find out before they spotted me and I had to bail out before they could track me. But don't worry, I'm all over this. I'll find out all I can about this dude. It ain't over. I'm gonna get back in there and start digging. I'm gonna-"

Jensen's verbal rampage was interrupted by a new, rough voice. "You could always just ask me. Then again. If I told you, I'd have to kill you. And that would definitely put a damper on the mission."

As one, the Losers turned to look at the man who had just entered the clearing.

He was as tall as Clay and had the physique of Roque. His skin was the color of caramel. He had straight black hair that hung mid-way down his back. It was pulled into a thick braid. Anyone else they would have said something about the hair; but not him. No one so much as quirked a smirk.

He was dressed in standard issue camouflage like the others. He wore no dog tags, yet they saw that he wore a silver chain around his neck. It was tucked into his shirt so they could not see if anything was on it.

As the new man walked farther into the clearing towards the others, he looked from one man to the next, taking stock and seeing their reaction to him. He already knew their names, and what they preferred to be called from the files he was given on them.

Clay, the leader, was staring at him as if he wanted to make him disappear. He was already warned that Clay did not like strangers in his turf. His turf included anywhere his team was. He may not show it to his men, but he did love them like the family he never saw. _Don't worry Clay, as soon as this job is completed, and I have a little fun, I'm gone and you can have your team back. Most of them the way I found them._

Roque, the demo and tactical expert of the team, looked at Wolfe as if he wanted to just kill him and be done with it. _Hmmm. Let him try it. That should be fun._

Pooch, as they all call him, was the transportation and heavy weapons expert. He just kept rubbing his bald head with one hand while fingering what looked to be a ring among his dog tags with the other hand. It was apparent that he didn't care whether Wolfe was here or not. He obviously just wanted to complete their mission so that he could get back home to his new bride of seven months, Jolene. A very attractive woman, that one. _If only that was what interested me._

Cougar, their long range eliminations expert, just coolly looked at him from under the brim of his hat. He could not decipher what Cougar's expression meant, though. What he did know was that Cougar looked out for his team. If anyone so much as looked at them wrong, they were dead. A bullet through the head from out of nowhere. _I'll have to watch out for that one._

And finally, Jensen, the communications and technical expert. He was looking at Wolfe with a look of wonder upon his face. He knew the military kept his files highly encrypted, as per their arrangement, but he wasn't surprised that Jensen was able to find out a few things about him. In fact, he expected it. It would help Wolfe in the long run if the boy was in awe of him. _Makes it harder for him to say no. _

The team kept their eyes trained on the unwelcome newcomer. As Wolfe looked over each man one by one, they could feel themselves becoming even tenser, if that were even possible.

When he got to Jensen, and began grinning like the cat that got the cream, they all got a bad feeling in the pits of their stomachs. All but Jensen, who didn't notice the smile because he had looked at Cougar as soon as Cougar moved.

Cougar had stepped a foot closer to Jensen during the time that Wolfe was staring at Jensen for he had noticed what the others did not. While Wolfe was staring at Jensen, which was an amount of time considerably longer than the amount of time he had spent looking at the others combined, his pants had tightened a bit in the groin area.

TBC in Chapter 2.


	2. Four Days Early

Once again, thank you to **Castiel's drycleaner** for her support and for being an awesome Beta.

Thank you to **Ash. A. Leah** for her support as well.

I greatly appreciate you both.

And thank you to my other reviewers: Deth Faenim, Reader One, gottalovealoser, Riley Carbine, Thornangel and Golum. I love reading what you think about my story.

Jensen's Petunia

* * *

Cougar continued to watch Wolfe as the new man seemed to realize that he had been staring at Jensen and smiling for far too long. He watched as Wolfe subtlety shifted himself, probably to make his pants fit more comfortably.

"Has mission control given you the intel on our target?" Wolfe moved further into the clearing without getting too close to the others.

Clay stared at Wolfe for a moment longer before answering. "We were just about to go over the layout of the fortress when we were told to expect you."

Wolfe and Clay stared each other down for a full minute before being interrupted by Pooch. "Okay, so we know that their numbers have doubled and that they are expecting some kind of attack. But they aren't sure when, right?"

Pooch looked to Jensen for confirmation. Jensen was still staring at Wolfe. Pooch shook his head in amazement. Leave it to Jensen to become speechless at absolutely the wrong time. And because of someone who shouldn't have made him speechless in the first place. "Jensen!"

Jensen blinked in surprise and turned to look at Pooch. "What Pooch man?"

Pooch just shook his head before re-asking, "The fortress is expecting an attack but they aren't sure when, right?"

Jensen shook his head. "No, they aren't exactly sure according to the information the military has acquired. But they don't expect it before Salvador gets there. They know he's our target."

Roque jumped off the jeep and stalked over to Jensen. Wolfe, upon seeing the anger in Roque's face, moved slightly closer to Jensen. Wolfe knew Roque had anger issues. It was one of the reasons he was transferred to the losers to begin with. However, Wolfe wasn't going to let him hurt Jensen. At least not until after he's had his fun with Jensen.

Cougar saw Wolfe step closer to Jensen as soon as Roque had made a move towards Jensen. He did not like that. First, Jensen was Cougar's. Jensen just didn't know it yet. There had never been a reason to tell him before because no one else had ever interfered. Until now. Second, Roque wouldn't hurt Jensen. He knew better. The last time he had hit Jensen in anger and frustration, Cougar had made it very, very clear that if Roque ever did that again that his body would never be found.

"What do you mean, before Salvador gets there?" Roque's face turned darker in anger. "He's not there?"

Jensen looked up at Roque as he shook his head in answer. "Nope. He's not expected to arrive for another four days."

Curses and groans could be heard from Clay, Roque and Pooch. Wolfe didn't say anything as he continued to stare at Roque standing next to Jensen. Cougar didn't say anything as he continued to glare at Wolfe.

"Why the hell are we here so early?" Pooch couldn't help but ask. "It doesn't take four days to do recon and then plan the job."

Wolfe finally stopped staring at Roque's closeness to Jensen and answered Pooch's question. "I believe we are here together now because mission control hopes that we can learn to work together before the job. We have different styles of accomplishing our missions and control doesn't want us to fuck this up because we can't work together. They really want Salvador."

Wolfe looked at each of them to gage their response and whether they believed him or not. His reason was partly true. He knew there would be some adjustments they would have to make in order to complete this mission, him included. He wasn't used to working in a team. All of his missions were completed solely by his own hand.

The other part of the reason they were all here early was still standing a foot in front of Roque. Jensen. Upon seeing him at the base two months ago Wolfe decided that he wanted to have Jensen for a little fun. Especially after seeing how territorial his little Spanish friend was. While the Losers were at the base no one even ventured close to Jensen because Cougar was always by his side glaring people away. Jensen didn't even seem to realize that Cougar had any other intentions than just being friends. That made it clear to Wolfe that Cougar had never claimed Jensen as his own.

Wolfe had been hearing of the other sniper for over a year now. The base was the first time that he had seen him. People had dared to say that he was even better than Wolfe. _Bullshit_. Wolfe was ten times better than Cougar with his eyes closed. Plus, Cougar had weaknesses. Namely Jensen. The others of his unit of course were also a weakness of Cougar's. Wolfe would never make the mistake of having another person as a weakness again.

That was when Wolfe decided he wanted to claim Jensen first. Not permanently of course. Cougar could have Jensen after Wolfe was finished with him, if Cougar still wanted him. Either way Wolfe would prove to Cougar and to everyone else that he was the best…at everything. This is why the only way he would agree to this mission is if control had them there together four days before Salvador was expected. That would give him plenty of time to have some fun with Jensen and then plan the attack.

Of course mission control agreed. They wanted to keep Wolfe happy partly because he was the best and partly because he did the jobs no one else would do. They were either too dangerous, too crazy or just plain suicide. Wolfe had nothing to lose so he was the perfect person for many of their jobs.

Wolfe was brought back to the present when Clay moved to stand right in front of him. Wolfe looked at the leader of the Losers and waited for him to speak. _Time to see if they believe that bullshit reason._

Clay looked Wolfe hard in the eye. "So we're here four days before the target to get to know each other. Is that what you're telling me?"

Wolfe smiled at Clay. "No Colonel. We are here four days early so that we can learn each other's strengths and weaknesses and come up with a plan that works best for everyone." He looked to Roque before again looking at Clay. "Control realizes that certain members of your unit have a problem working with others and they wish to eliminate the possibility of missing body parts due to an argument of how to acquire Salvador."

Roque took a step towards Wolfe but stopped as Pooch grabbed his arm. Pooch shook his head at Roque and then released Roque's arm. Roque stepped back to where he was originally and just smiled as he thought to himself, _Later_.

Clay, ignoring what was going on behind him, stepped back out of Wolfe's face and said, "Fine then." He looked up at the lowering sun in the horizon. "We'll relax for the rest of today and start planning tomorrow. Recon at 0500."

TBC in Chapter 3.


	3. Clay Talks To Cougar

Thank you, **Castiel's drycleaner**, for your support and for being an awesome Beta.

Thank you, **Ash. A. Leah**, for your support as well.

I greatly appreciate you both.

And thank you to my reviewers of Chapter 2: Riley Carbine, Deth Faenim, gottalovealoser, eustilly and DeceptionsDance. I love reading what you think about my story.

I'm sorry Chapter 2 was a bit of a teaser but I had to stop it there because I really knew where I wanted to start this one.

Jensen's Petunia

* * *

The Losers agreed with Clay; as if they had a choice that did not result in a firing squad. They began getting comfortable as they settled in for the afternoon. Wolfe took this downtime as an opportunity to use to his advantage.

"Colonel," Wolfe waited until he had Clay's attention. He didn't have to wait very long. "While you and your men get settled in here, Jensen and I are gonna go get some firewood."

Jensen made a move to follow Wolfe out of the clearing when Cougar suddenly appeared in front of Wolfe. Cougar stared at this unknown man with a warning look in his eyes. Wolfe just smiled back at Cougar with a knowing look on his face. Jensen, who stood right behind Cougar, could not see either man's face but could sense the tension in the air.

Clay, Roque and Pooch watched as Wolfe and Cougar silently challenged each other. Clay could tell that Jensen was about to burst with questions so he intervened. "It's okay Cougar. Wolfe's on our side for this mission. We can trust him to look out for Jensen."

Cougar continued to stare at Wolfe harshly for one more minute before moving aside and letting Jensen follow Wolfe into the jungle. As soon as they were out of sight Cougar turned to look at Clay. He wasn't the only one. Roque and Pooch both turned to Clay and started talking at the same time.

"A fire Clay-is that safe?" Roque was worried about giving away their position.

"Colonel, I don't think it's such a good idea for any of us to be alone with Wolfe." Pooch rubbed his bald head as he hesitated to say, "Especially Jensen."

Cougar grunted his agreement. The silent sniper did not like the look that Wolfe got in his eyes every time he looked at Jensen. It was a very hungry look that held a hint of his sadistic nature. Cougar could sense the evilness in the man. He didn't like letting Jensen out of his sight for even a second as long as that man was around.

Clay held up his hands as if to ward off any further comments from his men. "Look guys. First Roque, yes a fire should be safe. This clearing is far enough away from the fortress to not be seen. It's why we set up here to begin with." Clay shook his head when it looked as if Roque would say something else. "Second Pooch and Cougar, I know. I see the way Wolfe looks at Jensen too. I don't like it either. But we have to deal with it until this mission is over. Then we won't have to deal with him. Until then," Clay saw how tense Cougar was becoming as he continued to speak, "we'll just have to keep an eye on both Wolfe and Jensen."

Roque made a sound of disgust. "Great. Now we have to babysit the kid and keep a watch on Wolfe."

"Please Roque," Pooch shook his head at his friend. "We all know that you wouldn't have taken your eyes off Wolfe to begin with. You don't trust anyone who's new." Pooch chuckled as he remembered the first six months after they were assigned Jensen. One of his fondest memories is of an exasperated Jensen trying tirelessly to get Roque to trust him and to talk to him. "It took six months before you'd even let Jensen stand behind you."

Cougar and Clay smirked as they began remembering that time with fondness as well. Roque actually smiled as he said, "Yeah okay. I admit I won't be taking my attention away from Wolfe anytime soon. I don't trust the man. He's too…shifty. I get a bad vibe off of him; worse than I've ever had before. But Jensen's a grown man-"

"Who attracts danger and mayhem and never has the good sense to shut up when it's best." Clay finished for Roque. He knew Jensen annoyed Roque like no one else ever could but he also knew that Roque would have Jensen's back. They all would. Clay looked around at his men as they all nodded their heads in agreement with him. He noticed that Cougar kept glancing at the spot where Jensen had disappeared only minutes before.

"Roque, Pooch." Clay paused until he had their attention. From the somber looks on their faces he could tell that they were replaying memories of times when Jensen had gotten himself into trouble. "Cougar and I are gonna go scout out the area surrounding this clearing. We'll be back in twenty. By then Jensen and Wolfe should be back as well. Keep an eye on them."

Roque looked between Clay and Cougar before turning back to sharpening his knives. Pooch nodded and sat down on his bedroll. "Will do boss."

Clay nodded back then turned to his sniper. "Let's go Cougar."

The men walked into the jungle side by side. After walking for a few minutes, Clay grabbed Cougar's forearm, a silent indication that he wanted the man to stop walking. Cougar raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Clay was unsure of how to begin. He's always known what to say and when to say it. But now that he was confronting Cougar about Jensen he was apprehensive. He knew how his sniper felt for their young hacker. They all knew how Cougar felt. Everyone except for Jensen himself knew. The kid was oblivious. But Cougar was a very private person and did not like to talk about himself or his feelings. He was the type of man that would rather pretend that his feelings didn't exist. The fact that they were in the military and had a strict policy of Don't Ask Don't Tell was also a determining factor. _Screw the policy and Cougar's feelings. This is too important._

"Look Cougs, you need to tell Jensen." Clay watched as Cougar raised his eyebrow yet again. "You know what Cougar. He deserves to know." Cougar's continuing silence and expressionless face were beginning to make Clay uneasy. He knew that he might have overstepped his bounds but this was his team damn it. Any distraction could be deadly for all of them. Wolfe was definitely a distraction.

"We all know how you feel about him Cougar." Clay let that sink in for a minute before he continued. "We have for quite some time now. You may hide it from him but you can't hide it from us." Clay paused once again before finishing. "We know you too well."

Cougar studied his colonel's serious expression. The sniper thought that the unit might believe he was just overprotective of Jensen because Jensen was so young. He didn't realize that they knew his true feelings for Jensen. _Mierda. (Shit)_

Cougar stared at the Colonel for a few tense moments. In an unsure voice Cougar told him, "No puedo decirle."

"What was that soldier?" Clay knew Cougar was having a hard time showing what he felt for Jensen. But Cougar also knew that Clay didn't speak Spanish.

Cougar lifted his chin and said in a clear crisp voice, "I can't tell him."

Clay could feel himself soften. He remembered the first time he told his ex-wife that he loved her. The nervousness, the anxiety, the fear of rejection; he remembered it well. It was a terrifying experience that he never wanted to go through again. _Poor Carlos._

"You have to Cougar." Clay gave Cougar a stern look. Even though Clay could sympathize with Cougar, that wasn't what Cougar needed right now. He needed someone to push him to face facts and to admit what he wanted. "Jensen deserves to know. He may not realize yet the reason you're always there; whether it's to protect him, comfort him, or to keep him company. But he will one day. How do you think that's gonna make him feel? To find out after all that time that you," Clay took a deep breath before saying the word that all men seem to fear, "loved him and yet never told him? Never gave him a chance to decide on choices he didn't know were available to him."

Cougar thought hard about what Clay had said. He knew Clay was right. He also knew that he would never have his chance at happiness with Jensen if he never told Jensen how he felt. But happiness had always eluded Cougar. All of his life he tried to attain a bit of happiness just to have it yanked out of his reach.

When Cougar had first met Jensen it was like a moth to a flame. He just had to be around him. Cougar couldn't get enough of Jensen. While the others became annoyed with Jensen's incessant yammering Cougar found it refreshingly peaceful. He could be around the hacker and not be expected to say anything yet still be involved in the conversation. And Jensen never took exception to Cougar's silence. He just took it as encouragement to talk even more.

Clay watched his silent sniper in fascination at all the emotions that passed through Cougar's eyes. If Clay hadn't been watching Cougar closely he would have missed them. After another minute of pensive calm Clay could see that Cougar had finally reached the decision to tell Jensen. _About damn time._

Cougar looked at Clay and nodded. The decision was made. Now he just had to enact it.

The men walked back to the clearing in peaceful silence. Unfortunately the calm did not last. Upon entering the clearing they saw Roque and Pooch playing a game of rummy, but no Jensen or Wolfe. Cougar became tense once again.

"Roque, Pooch, where the hell are Jensen and Wolfe?" Clay was sure that they would be back before Cougar and himself. It had been twenty-five minutes since Clay and Cougar had left the clearing. That meant that it had been at least thirty since Jensen left with Wolfe. It didn't take that long to collect firewood. Where the hell were they?

Pooch stood up from the game and turned to address Clay. "They haven't come back yet boss."

Cougar's angry presence made itself known throughout the clearing. The men could see the blackness come over his eyes as he turned and walked back into the jungle.

Roque chuckled. "Well Jensen and Cougar will be back. Can't say the same thing for Wolfe."

Clay and Pooch did not join in Roque's laughter. If anything happened that was bad enough for Cougar to kill the man…Well they just didn't want to think about it. Cougar rarely unleashed his temper. When he did…Lord help them all.

TBC in Chapter 3. (Hint-We'll see what was happening with Jensen and Wolfe while we were watching Cougar and Clay.)


	4. Tell Me A Story

Thank you, **Castiel's drycleaner,** for your support and for being an awesome Beta.

And thank you to my reviewers of Chapter 3: Riley Carbine, Deth Faenim, gottalovealoser, DeceptionsDance, Flashtabulor, SivanShemesh, and Thornangel. I love reading what you think about my story.

I know that you wanted to see what was happening with Jensen and Wolfe last chapter but I had to do Clay and Cougar first. You'll see why at the end of this chapter.

I'm sorry that this chapter is so long but I really wanted all of this in here.

Jensen's Petunia

* * *

Jensen followed Wolfe into the jungle to collect firewood for the campfire. The talented hacker was busy wondering what had just happened in the clearing that he did not realize Wolfe had stopped walking. He marched straight into Wolfe's back.

Wolfe knew that Jensen was not paying attention to where he was going and had stopped walking purposefully. The tall sniper dropped the wood he had collected and twisted so that he could catch Jensen in his beefy arms as the young man stumbled.

Jensen braced himself against Wolfe's chest and forearm as he straightened himself up. "Sorry Wolfe. Guess I wasn't paying attention."

Wolfe smiled at the blushing man. "It's okay Jensen. You probably just have a lot on your mind. Like usual."

The blonde hacker squinted his eyes as he contemplated the temporary sniper. "You seem to know an awful lot about us Wolfe. You know our names and what each of us does. I heard you mumbling under your breath. You said you'd like to see Roque 'try it'. Then you'd show him demolition. What did you mean? What did you want him to try? What do you want to demolish? What-"

"Jensen...Stop…Take a breath." Wolfe couldn't help but smile. The feeling of Jensen in his arms after he stopped the blonde from falling felt nice. Then the young man started his tirade and he couldn't believe how many words the boy could fit into a minute; without even having to take a breath. "Yes I do know a lot about your unit. Before coming here I was given your team's files and read thru them. I learned a lot about you and the others."

Wolfe sat down against one of the many trees. He motioned for Jensen to sit against the tree next to him and waited until the boy obeyed before continuing. "Clay's divorced with two children whom he never sees. Roque has anger management issues and his weapon of choice is a knife. His collection at home totals more than 640. Porteous prefers to be called Pooch and married Jolene seven months ago. Until he met her, he only had love for anything that contained an engine. Alvarez goes by Cougar and is the second best sniper in the world." Wolfe made sure he stressed the word second.

Jensen had paid close attention to Wolfe throughout the long explanation. He thought he heard a trace of derision as the other sniper spoke of Cougar but Jensen couldn't be sure. Then he realized that Wolfe hadn't said anything about him. "What did you learn about me?"

Wolfe had been waiting for Jensen to ask that question. "Well Jake," the other sniper captured Jensen's gaze. "I learned a lot about you. Your mother died due to complications during the birth of your little sister when you were five."

Jensen felt his eyebrows rise at that statement. He knew the military knew his parents were dead but he didn't realize that they would know his mom died during the labor of his sister. He heard Wolfe continue with the story of what he knew about Jensen.

"Your father was an abusive alcoholic who directed his anger towards you after your mother died. You protected your sister from him until he died from alcohol poisoning when you were seventeen."

There was no way that was in his file. Of course it was public knowledge that Carlisle Jensen died of alcohol poisoning in an X-rated movie house with his pants down around his ankles. He had found the police report accidentally one day while he was hacking just for the fun of it. Jensen had told himself that it was so he could keep his skills at the best of the best. Really it was because he liked breaking into supposedly secure places.

"You lied to the cops who told you of your father's death when you told them you were eighteen and that you would take care of your sister. They didn't care enough to check either. You took on two jobs in order to support the both of you."

_Actually it was four jobs, one full-time and three part-time._ But there was no way that the military would know that. The recruiter he signed up with barely asked him enough information for his dog-tags.

"At least until you realized that you had mad abilities with anything having to deal with a computer. Then you took jobs that would hone your skills. Your sister became pregnant when she was seventeen and the father bolted so you took on the responsibility of the baby as well."

Jensen realized that anyone could find that out. He signed the birth certificate as the father. The hospital didn't know he was actually the uncle so no one batted an eye. Even if they did know, he would have just told them that they were from West Virginia. (*** I mean no offense by this. My Aunt lives in WV and the people themselves joke about the inbreeding that goes on there. ***)

"A year after the baby was born you knew you needed to do something meaningful with your life that would make your sister proud so you decided to enlist in the military. You've been sending most of your pay home ever since you joined. At first it was to pay for your sister to go through a college nursing program. Now it goes to anything that your sister or your niece may need."

_How the hell does he know all this? There isn't any damn way that all this is in my fucking file!_ Jensen was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. If he knew all this…

"Your sister is so proud of who you've become and loves your unit as if they were her extended family. She was a bridesmaid at Pooch and Jolene's wedding and visits Jolene whenever she can. She's been helping Jolene to adjust to the military life."

Jensen could only look at Wolfe in astonishment. It took the hacker a while but he's now aware that Wolfe didn't find out any of this from his military file. _So where the hell did he get all this information? And if he knows this…oh God! Does he realize?_

Wolfe was calmly watching the emotions cross over Jensen's face the entire time the caramel-skinned man was talking. Now he was ready for the million-dollar question that would tell Wolfe whether or not Jensen realized that Cougar had feelings for him. "There is one thing I don't get Jensen."

Jensen froze at those words. He could fell his heart stop as he waited for Wolfe to confirm that he knew Jensen's deepest, darkest secret. _Please…_

"Why is your sister listed as Cougar's next of kin?"

_Oh no!_

"Why would he ask your sister to do that? It doesn't make any sense to me." Wolfe watched Jensen carefully as he awaited Jensen's verbal response.

_Oh thank you God. He doesn't know._ Jensen could feel the tension drain from his body. He smiled at Wolfe in relief. "Cougs didn't ask Sarah to do that. Nope. She knew that Cougar didn't have anyone else and was worried about what would happen if something went wrong on one of our missions. So she became his next of kin. Then she worried that something might happen when we weren't on a mission. So she became his emergency contact and now has the ability to make decisions on his behalf if he is unable."

Jensen watched Wolfe closely to make sure that Wolfe bought that explanation. He should; the young hacker did tell him most of the truth. He just left out one tiny, yet extremely important, part.

Wolfe began smiling brightly. _Good. The boy doesn't realize the Spaniard's feelings. He'll be putty in my hands. _"Of course that explains it. Now it makes perfect sense. Your sister is a very caring person."

Jensen smiled back at Wolfe happy that his secret was still safe. _Just in case, let's change our focus. _"So tell me about yourself Wolfe? Where are you from? Who are your parents? Do you have anyone waiting back home? How did you become a sniper? Where did you-"

Wolfe began laughing. "Jensen, Jensen slow down. So I guess an hour's notice isn't enough time for you to be able to find out a whole lot about me huh?"

Jensen could only shake his head.

"How about this? I'll tell you about myself and when I'm done, if you have any questions, just ask. Okay?" After seeing Jensen nod Wolfe began telling his story. At least the one he thought would get him closer to Jensen.

"I was born in Cuba and raised there until my parents were murdered when I was seven." Wolfe took in the widening of Jensen's eyes and continued with his story. "Then I went to live with my Abuela, my Grandmother, in New Jersey. She lived in an apartment building not far from Fort Dix. She was fond of the soldiers there and used to make them great home-cooked meals. They looked out for her and when I moved in they began looking out for me too. They taught me how to take care of myself and my Abuela."

Wolfe could see that this story was in deed having an effect on Jensen. _Good._

"When the soldiers discovered that I had a knack for rifle shooting they began grooming me for their sniper program. The day of my eighteenth birthday I enlisted and became the best sniper the base had ever seen." _Definitely better than Carlos 'Cougar' Alvarez._

"I sent most of my pay home to my Abuela to use as she needed until she died when I was twenty." _That's right Jensen. Eat this bullshit up. _"I continued with the military until I was twenty-three. Then I was transferred to a special facility where I began training to become what I am today. I can't say any more than that otherwise I really would have to kill you." Wolfe smiled confidently at Jensen.

Jensen was quiet for ten seconds before the questions started. "Wait, you're Cuban? Wow. Did you lose your accent because you moved to Jersey?"

Before Jensen could utter the next question that was about to come out of his mouth, Wolfe answered his first ones. "Yes I'm Cuban. No I didn't lose my accent." Wolfe allowed his accent to emerge. "My Abuela herself had the same thick accent the day she died that she had when she first moved from Cuba. When I joined the…special facility they trained me to hide my accent and to even be able to mimic others so that I could fit in wherever I was needed."

All other questions flew out of Jensen's mind when he noticed Wolfe fingering the chain beneath his clothes. He had actually been doing that quite a bit. "What's with the chain?"

_Finally!_ Wolfe had been waiting for Jensen to notice and to ask about the chain. This was the part of the story that would lead Wolfe to being victorious over Cougar. He would have Jensen first.

Wolfe plastered what he hoped was a bittersweet smile on his face and really started to lay it on thick. "This chain," he began as he removed it from its hiding place behind his shirt, "holds the only connection I have left to my Rafi."

Jensen didn't quite hide his astonishment at the sound of a man's name passing over Wolfe's lips.

Wolfe pressed on. "I had never thought of myself as being gay before I met Rafi. When I met him, everything changed. It was as if I were coming alive for the first time in my life. When we were together the sun was brighter, the air was clearer, life was great. Then, Rafi died. The sun's rays died, the air suffocated me, life was…meaningless. From that day on I lived for my job. When I wasn't working I slept. As long as I didn't have to think or feel I was able to function. I never thought I would feel that way again."

Wolfe reached over and took Jensen's hand in his. "Then I saw your file. And I started to feel all those old feelings that I used to get with Rafi. I knew then that I had to know you. So I found out all I could about you, came here, saw you, and all those old feelings just kept growing stronger. I think I need you more than I needed Rafi, mi hermosa rubia hacker." (my beautiful blond hacker)

For the second time in his life, the first being the birth of his niece, Jake Jensen was speechless. Although that could have been a result of the shock he was currently suffering. All he could do was stare at his hand in Wolfe's and wonder how it got there.

_This can't be happening. This CAN'T be happening. This isn't right. _

Wolfe began leaning closer to Jensen. He was six inches from Jensen's face when the confused hacker realized that he was moving in for a kiss.

_NO! NOT HIM!_

Jensen jumped up and backed away from Wolfe. He reflexively stopped when his back hit a tree. The stunned blonde kept shaking his head back and forth as Wolfe followed him to the tree.

Before Wolfe could move within two feet of Jensen he stopped when an immovable wall made from a very furious Cougar blocked his path.

Cougar could barely contain his rage. His hands were tight, white fists at his sides. Before he did something that could endanger his team on this next mission, Cougar took a deep breath and snarled, "Take the firewood to Clay."

Wolfe smiled at Cougar, gathered the wood and walked back in the direction of the campsite._ Soon Cougar. Your hacker will soon be mine. _

Cougar watched Wolfe until the man was out of sight. He listened to make sure that the temporary sniper was still heading in the direction of the campsite and that he did not stop. When he was sure that they would not be overheard, Cougar turned to face Jensen.

Jensen still looked to be in a state of shock. The poor boy hadn't moved in the past three minutes.

Cougar felt himself calming as he watched Jensen. The boy was fine and mostly untouched. _Gilipollas asquerosa, cómo él atreve toque Jensen. (Filthy asshole, how dare he touch Jensen.)_

Jensen could feel himself returning to normal. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to figure out what he was going to say to Cougar. "Look, Cougs-"

Cougar stepped forward until just a few inches of space remained between him and Jensen. "Jensen," Cougar inhaled deeply, held it in for ten seconds and then released it. "Jensen, I need to tell you something."

TBC in Chapter 5.


	5. Cougar Plus Jensen Equals Feelings?

Thank you, **Castiel's drycleaner,** for your support and for being an awesome Beta.

And thank you to my reviewers of Chapter 4: DeceptionsDance, Flashtabulor, Ash. A. Leah, SivanShemesh, Riley Carbine, LaylaBinx, Deth Faenim, Thornangel, DevilChile, and gottalovealoser in the personal message. I love reading what you think about my story.

This is another longer chapter, but from what most of you have p.m.'d me, you prefer them longer.

Jensen's Petunia

* * *

Jensen felt a tremor of fear pass through his body at Cougar's words. _Oh no. No. No. No. Please God don't let him know. He can't know. I couldn't bear it. _

Cougar stared silently at Jensen but didn't make a move to say anything else.

_Oh no. _Jensen peered into Cougar's eyes looking for any sign that Cougar knew his secret. _Please don't let Cougar know that I've fallen in love with him. Please God don't let Cougar know I love him. _

After several more minutes of silent stillness Cougar finally moved. Slowly, so as not to startle Jensen, Cougar reached up and took Jensen's face in his hands. He caressed the hacker's stubbly face. He moved his hands slowly down Jensen's jawline, stroked the young man's firm neck and lightly felt the Adam's apple that bobbed rapidly as Jensen kept swallowing nervously. From there Cougar rubbed the blonde's firm shoulders and continued feeling his way down Jensen's well-toned arms. Finally, he took Jensen's hands in his.

With a firm grip on Jensen's hands and his dark eyes locked on Jensen's blue ones Cougar said what he needed to say. "I love you Jake Jensen."

Cougar watched in horror as the eyes of the man he loved rolled up into the back of Jensen's head and Jensen began to fall forward. "Jensen?" Cougar caught Jensen before he hit the ground. He gently laid his unconscious teammate down and knelt beside him. After checking that the hacker still had a pulse and was still breathing Cougar gently shook him. "Jensen mi amor. Please open your eyes." When there was still no response Cougar shook a little harder. "Jake!"

Jensen could hear someone calling his name but he couldn't see them. _Maybe if I opened my eyes. That would help._

Jensen opened his eyes and looked straight into Cougar's concerned ones. Then it all came back to Jensen. Firewood, Wolfe, almost kissed by the wrong man, Cougar finding them together, Cougar telling Jensen that he loved him. That was what caused the young man to pass out. All the stress of worrying what would happen if Cougar ever found out how Jensen felt for him was suddenly gone. That relief was monumental.

_He loves me. Cougar loves me. He won't hate me for being in love with him. Thank you God. _Jensen couldn't hold back the giant goofy grin that rapidly brightened his face if his life had depended on it.

Cougar had been feeling such tremendous fear that Jensen's disgust and hate had been too much for him and had knocked him out. But seeing Jensen's smile upon his awakening gave the sniper pause.

Jensen still couldn't believe it. _Maybe it had been a dream._ Jensen sat up and felt warmth flood his body as Cougar reached out to help steady him. He took the silent man's hand and looked him square in the eye. "You love me Cougar? Really, truly love me?"

Cougar didn't hesitate for a second. "Yes Jake Jensen, I love you." He took Jensen's other hand in his as he said, "With all my soul."

Jensen squeezed Cougar's hands to emphasize his responding statement. "And I love you Carlos Alvarez, with all my soul."

They basked in their love for a whole minute before Jensen could restrain himself no longer. "Oh Thank God! Cougar, you don't know how long I've been in love with you. All this time being near you while trying to hide it from you was pure hell."

"No love, knowing that I may have been too late when I saw you and Wolfe holding hands and about to kiss; that was hell." Cougar could feel his anger start to rise again.

Jensen could see the darkness enter Cougar's eyes. He would do whatever he had to do to wipe the darkness from Cougar's eyes permanently. He decided to start by reassuring his dark Spaniard that nothing was going to happen between him and Wolfe. "Cougar, nothing was going to happen between Wolfe and me."

At the mention of the other sniper's name Cougar growled. It was a very sexy sound.

"Yes, I knew that as soon as I saw you realize what was happening. You jumped back as if he were a spider." Cougar began chuckling at Jensen's phobia.

"Hey man, those things can climb inside you while you sleep and lay their eggs. There was this one case, where-" Jensen cut himself off when he saw Cougar start to shake his head. "You knew that?"

Cougar became serious once again. "Yes Jake. I also saw you shake your head no and he still began towards you."

"And then you were there between us." Jensen added.

"Yes. He had already touched you and then had dared to attempt a kiss. I was not about to let him use his size as an advantage to pressuring you to do something that you did not want to do." Cougar felt surprisingly calm as he talked to Jensen. The memories of what had happened should be reigniting his temper but they were not.

Jensen tilted his head as he looked at Cougar inquisitively. "I'm bigger than you Cougs."

Cougar smirked as he responded, "Yes you are Jensen. But you are nowhere near as deadly as I am."

Jensen chuckled. "You got me there buddy."

Cougar became serious once again. "I would like to be more than just your buddy. When I saw the disgust that came over your face when he made his move on you, I was…" It was hard for Cougar to admit this next feeling. "I was so afraid that you would be disgusted by me as well when I told you how I felt. I was afraid to tell you to begin with. I didn't want to lose our friendship. If I couldn't have you as my lover, than I at least wanted you as my friend."

Jensen smiled warmly. "Yet you still told me anyway. I'm glad."

Cougar smiled back and shook his head as a thought came back to him. "I had already given Clay my word that I would tell you." Jensen looked as if he was about to interrupt so Cougar held up his hands in a silent plea not to. "Yes, he knows. They all know how I feel about you. They have for some time now. Apparently my overprotectiveness was a big indicator. I was practically ordered to tell you."

Jensen and Cougar shared some laughter. Cougar smoothly shifted from his knees onto his firm behind. He stared at Jensen in amazement. He still couldn't believe that Jensen loved him. It was a blessed miracle.

"Like I said Cougar, I'm glad. You know…I never thought of myself as being gay." He paused to see if Cougar would say anything to that. He should have known better. Cougar just sat there patiently listening.

"When I was growing up, I absolutely adored women. All women: big, small, tall, short. I loved them all. But I never had time to pursue any of them. I was always taking care of Sarah. Then I was taking care of Sarah and Analicia." Jensen smiled at the memories of his sister and niece. He didn't regret his ladies one bit. They were and still are his life. They just had to share him with one more person now.

"And then I was in the military and just never had the opportunity or the desire. All that changed two years ago. I was transferred to the Losers and I met you. You changed everything. No longer did I desire women. I tried. " He shook his head as he tried to fight the memories of his past. He had been so stupid.

"I flirted with any and all women that I crossed paths with. I even tried making out with a couple but I just couldn't do it. Every time I closed my eyes all I could see were your dark eyes staring back at me." Jensen smiled to himself. "I knew then that even if I couldn't tell you how I felt, I could not do anything to betray the love I felt for you."

Cougar looked at Jensen in shock. He knew about Jensen's flirtations. They always made him jealous. That's the reason he started staying with Jensen at the bars and giving anyone who even turned in Jensen's direction the meanest look imaginable. But that wasn't until after several months of torture watching Jensen leave with other women. He too had been fighting the feelings he was having. But surely Jensen had...he had to have…with at least one of them. _Didn't he?_

"Jensen, mi corazon, are you telling me that you've never been with-"

"Yes Cougar. That's what I'm saying." Jensen withdrew his hands into his lap and stared at them as if they held all the answers in the world. A bright blush flushed his face as he waited to hear teasing. He really should try to remember who he's with. It's not Roque.

Cougar felt a huge smile cover his face. He snatched Jensen's hands back into his grasp.

Jensen's head snapped up at the sudden movement. When he did he was rewarded with the biggest smile he's ever seen on the Spaniard's face. _Holy shit. He's actually smiling. Not a smirk or a raised eyebrow. A smile. Wow. It's a very beautiful smile. Cougar is such a beautiful being. _

Cougar leaned closer to Jensen. He slowly moved himself so that Jensen could tell he was moving in for a kiss. Cougar wanted to give Jensen ample time to decide whether he wanted this kiss or not.

Jensen was tired of waiting for Cougar to slowly make his way to finally kissing him. So he buried his fingers in the sniper's thick dark locks and yanked the beautiful sniper against him. Jensen's mouth found Cougar's and fastened onto him. Unfortunately Jensen was unsure of how to kiss another man. He didn't know if he should treat Cougar like he would a woman or if he should just go with his instincts.

Cougar was trying to be patient but after Jensen's unsure fumbling took control of the kiss. And they both experienced pure bliss. Jensen was thoroughly enjoying having his mouth dominated by Cougar.

Cougar started soft and sweet. He traced the outline of Jensen's kiss-swollen lips with his luscious tongue. Then he began nibbling on the blonde's bottom lip. Jensen began moaning and Cougar took that as an invitation to thrust his tongue past Jensen's parted lips and start exploring the moist, warm heat of his soon-to-be-lover's mouth.

Jensen followed Cougar's lead and started rubbing his tongue against Cougar's. He knew he was doing a good job as he felt and heard the growl that came from deep within Cougar's chest. He untangled his hands from Cougar's hair as he felt the need to explore the smaller man's body. Firm shoulders. Taut back muscles that urged Jensen to caress them. From there he moved down to fondle Cougar's firm buttocks. He used his current hold to urge Cougar harder against him. Then he lowered himself so that his back was on the ground and Cougar was above him.

Cougar forced himself to regain control as he felt Jensen thrust up against his hips. He disentangled himself from Jensen and sat back on his behind, which was surprisingly cool now that a certain pair of hands no longer clutched them. "No Jake. Not here. Not like this. No."

Jensen reopened his eyes and sucked in as much air as he could take. He didn't want to stop. "It's okay Carlos. I want to. Really I do." Jensen reached out to take Cougar back into his arms.

Cougar shook his head and firmly said, "No Jake. It will be your first time and we will do this right."

Jensen tried once again to convince Cougar to continue. "Carlos please, as long as my first time is with you, it will be right."

Once again Cougar shook his head. "No. We will wait until after this mission. When we are home and can be in either your or my bed." Jensen kept a room at his sister's house. So did Cougar. When Sarah found out that Cougar had no one and nowhere to go, she made a room for him in their house. Whenever they were off-mission both men would stay there. "Please do this for me Jake. Wait until we can be home?"

Jensen smiled at Cougar. "In case you haven't noticed Carlos, but for you I would do anything. I would even be gay for you." He paused as he wanted Cougar to realize that this next part was very important. "But only for you."

Cougar helped Jensen up and was helping him to clean the dirt and brush from his body when Cougar had a very distressing thought.

"What's wrong?" Jensen prayed that Cougar wasn't having second thoughts about them.

"How will we tell Sarah and Ana?" Cougar had such a look of panic on his face that it made Jensen want to burst out laughing. So he did.

"It's okay Cougs. Sarah already knows. She has for a long time." Jensen continued laughing.

Cougar looked at Jensen in curiosity. "What?"

Jensen started nodding as he tried to control his laughter. "Yeah. Sarah guessed my feelings for you the first time the team came to the house to meet them. She watched us the whole weekend and barely waited until after you guys had left to go back to the base to confront me about it. I could never hide anything from her." Jensen shook his head as he remembered that long ago weekend.

"She made me tell her everything. Not that I wouldn't have anyway. I told her how I felt about you, how I knew you were the only person that I would ever love, how-"

"You knew then that I am the only person you would ever love?" Cougar couldn't believe his ears.

"Yeah I did. The way you made me feel…I just knew. I then proceeded to tell her how I worried because you had no one outside of our unit and if anything ever happened there wouldn't be anyone to claim you. So that's when she volunteered to be your next of kin. Then we were off-mission that one time when you were stabbed by that nutjob. We didn't know about it until after you were already out of the hospital because you didn't have an emergency contact, not even Clay. She couldn't stand seeing me the way I was that day. So she offered to be your emergency contact and to be the one to make decisions in case you were unable."

Cougar smiled as he remembered how forceful Sarah had been when she demanded that he make her his next of kin and emergency contact. _Volunteered? Mierda, I'd hate to see how she is when she is really demanding._

"We'll have to add you to both too Jake. Don't worry, the military won't ask. They won't want to look too closely at all. Besides, if they try to give us any trouble at all, Clay will handle them."

TBC in Chapter 6. (Which is a small chapter, I warn you now. It sets the stage for Chapter 7.)


	6. Gossip

Thank you, **Castiel's drycleaner,** for your support and for being an awesome Beta.

And thank you to my reviewers of Chapter 5: Riley Carbine, Deth Faenim, DeceptionsDance, DevilChile, Thornangel, LaylaBinx, Flashtabulor, and gottalovealoser. I love reading what you think about my story.

I'm sorry this is a shorter chapter but it's more of a setup for chapter 7.

And of course for Cougar and Jensen to come out to the team officially.

Jensen's Petunia

* * *

As Cougar and Jensen walked back to the campsite, each with an arm wrapped around the other's waist, Cougar remembered the second part of his question. _What about Ana?_

"What about Analicia Jensen?" Cougar stopped dead in his tracks. He loved that little girl so much, almost as much as he loved her uncle. No one could love her as much as Jensen did though, except for Sarah…maybe.

"Hmmm. I know my niece's last name Cougar." At Cougar's blank stare Jensen explained. "You meant to sound like you were saying both our names together but you actually said her first name with her surname." Jensen couldn't help but chuckle at his observation. However, his companion did not find it funny. "Oh come on Cougs. Don't worry man. Ana loves you. She'll be thrilled when she finds out that Uncle Cougar is hers permanently."

When Cougar still did not seem too sure Jensen elaborated. "Cougar, you know my sister. As soon as Sarah found out how I felt about you she started preparing Ana for the day Uncle Cougar came to live with Uncle Jensen permanently. Ana's very smart. 'She understands what being homosexual means and that it is beautiful when two people are able to find a love that transcends all odds.' That is a direct quote from my sister. Sarah was convinced that you felt the same way about me as I did for you because of how you would look at me and act around me. I never saw it but hey, it turns out she was right." _Wish I would have known that a year and a half ago but hey, better late than never._

Cougar's worry finally seemed appeased. They resumed the walk back to the campsite. By the time they arrived the fire had died out and the others had already gone to sleep. Considering that recon was starting at 0500 hours, they needed to get to sleep too. Well, Jensen did. Cougar wouldn't be sleeping at all with Wolfe in their midst.

Jensen used the bright moonlight to navigate his way to where he had already readied his bedroll between Clay's and Cougar's. They kept him between them because Jensen had a tendency to sleep walk. And believe it or not but the man talked in his sleep. And not just murmurs or one-word sentences. Entire one-sided Jensen-style conversations; where he could go on and on about anything and everything.

When they were in a hotel Jensen usually bunked with Cougar because the sniper was such a light sleeper. At least that was what they told Jensen. They knew Cougar would just be more comfortable if he could keep an eye on Jensen. Jensen still hadn't been able to prove that Cougar had the ability to sleep. But he kept trying to catch Cougar at it.

When they were out in the wild such as tonight, they always made sure that their bunks were in the following order: Cougar, Jensen, Clay, Pooch, Roque. Jensen always had to be between Cougar and either Clay or Pooch but also had to be as far away from Roque as possible.

Roque didn't take to Jensen's sleepwalking/talking. Once he became so frustrated that he knocked the subconscious man unconscious. After a few words from Cougar convinced him to never do that again, he demanded that the rest of the team keep better control over Jensen. At least during the night, he knew they couldn't do anything about his behavior during the day. Well Roque could try but he had no doubt in his mind that Cougar would kill him.

Cougar stood watch over Jensen as he settled himself and fell asleep. Then the three other men of their unit got out of their beds and followed Cougar the distance he felt comfortable putting between himself and Jensen, at least while Wolfe was still amongst them.

Roque was of course the first to speak. "So Cougar…did you get any?"

"Roque!" the harsh reprimand was whispered by Clay.

"What?" Roque protested. "It's been a year and a half. I say my man's waited long enough to pop Jensen's cherry."

Pooch gave Roque a disappointed shake of the head.

Clay shot Roque a very harsh look that deterred any further comments from Roque.

Cougar ignored their banter and caught Clay's gaze. He tilted his chin in Wolfe's direction.

Clay shook his head. "He's been sleeping for the past half hour."

Roque chuckled. "Yeah, apparently he has no problems sleeping with men he barely knows."

Clay ignored Roque as he addressed Cougar. "Well soldier?"

Pooch felt his excitement building. "Yeah Cougs, how'd it go?"

"As I already asked, did you get any?" Roque couldn't help but throw that question back into the mix.

Cougar studied them for a moment. "We discussed it. We've decided that we are together."

Clay, Pooch and Roque continued waiting for another few minutes before they realized that Cougar was done. Pooch raised his eyebrows at Cougar. "Come on man. You gotta tell us more than that. We've been waiting for this for the past year and a half. Now give."

Cougar let out the breath he had been holding. "Si. You're right. You deserve to know."

"Damn straight after all the shit we've put up with." Roque had a determined look on his face.

Clay couldn't take it anymore. "Cougar what happened when you found them? Wolfe came back, dropped the firewood and then retired for the night. He didn't say anything to any of us."

"Yeah man, did you cut out his tongue? What'd he do, french Jensen?" Sadly, Roque was serious as he asked this of Cougar.

Cougar just shook his head as his rage began to overtake him yet again. "No."

The men's eyes widened at the deadly harshness of Cougar's tone.

"He dared to hold Jake's hand. Then he tried to kiss him. When Jake backed away from him he made a move to pursue him. That's when I got in front of him and told him to bring the firewood back here."

None of the men mentioned Cougar's use of Jensen's given name. They valued their lives.

"So what happened with you and the J-man?" Pooch could barely contain his curiosity.

For the first time since his reentrance into the clearing Cougar smiled. A real smile too, not one of his famous smirks. "I told him I loved him." In order to avoid harassment of Jensen, Cougar left out the part where Jensen 'passed out'. "Then he told me that he loved me as well and had for nearly as long. He just avoided telling me for the same reasons that I had for not telling him. We didn't want to risk our friendship."

Rogue made an exasperated sound. "Enough of the mushy bullshit. What happened between you two afterwards?"

Cougar judged what he should tell them. As a unit, they didn't need to know anything that wasn't pertinent to the mission. But as friends, and people who entrusted each other with their lives, they deserved to know everything. They were a family. It took Cougar a long time to find a family. This unit, and their extended families, was an important part of Cougar's…and Jensen's…lives.

"We kissed, began to make out, but when Jensen wanted to consummate our relationship I put a stop to it. It didn't feel right for his first time to be on the hard ground surrounded by wild animals." _And I just realized that I have no lube. That would have been too painful for Jake. It's good that I want this to be right for him._

His three teammates nodded their agreement. Jensen could be extremely aggravating at times but he was their youngest member. They loved him as if he were their kid brother and would do anything in their power to keep him safe, even die for him.

Wolfe listened to the supposed crack special ops team gossip like a bunch of women before finally going to bed. Well, all except Cougar. Wolfe knew the Spaniard wouldn't sleep until he was out of their lives. That would happen very soon if everything went according to Wolfe's plan_. You made a big mistake by waiting to claim Jensen Cougar. Tomorrow I will take him and mark him so that you will always remember that I had him first. _

TBC in Chapter 7.


	7. Fear, Blood and Death

Thank you, **Castiel's drycleaner,** for your support and for being an awesome Beta.

And thank you to my reviewers of Chapter 6: Riley Carbine, Ectofralamazoo, DevilChile, Deth Faenim, SivanShemesh(for 5 as well), DeceptionsDance, gottalovealoser, Flashtabulor, LaylaBinx, and Kikino. I love reading what you think about my story.

YAY! You guys have me at over 50 reviews. Awesome! Thank you.

And to gottalovealoser: You can d-message me anytime. It had me laughing. Thank you.

Please see additional note at the end of this chapter after you've finished reading it-if you want to.

Jensen's Petunia

* * *

Cougar judged it to be around 2 in the morning based on the positions of the moon and stars. He had ignored his bladder since mid-afternoon of the previous day but could no longer resist the urge to urinate. Checking that the other campers in the clearing were indeed still asleep, Cougar lifted himself off the ground and walked into the jungle to relieve himself. He had to go far enough away so that his scent wouldn't attract any unwanted animals. But he hated going more than two feet away from Jensen so he hurriedly completed his business.

Wolfe spotted his opportunity the moment Cougar got up. Once he was sure that the silent Spaniard was far enough away, Wolfe slithered out of his bedroll and stalked towards Jensen. While removing a small dart from a secret pouch concealed on the inside of his boot Wolfe covered the blonde hacker's mouth and jabbed the dart into the soft flesh of the man's neck.

Jensen opened his eyes in shock before falling back asleep under the influence of the drugs that Wolfe just shot into his system.

Wolfe picked the young man up carefully and hefted him over his shoulder. He looked towards the area the Spaniard has disappeared into just a minute before to make sure that he was still undetected. After checking on Jensen's other teammates, he assured himself that they were still asleep and unaware of his actions.

Wolfe entered the jungle heading in the opposite direction that Cougar had gone.

Cougar reentered the clearing and stopped the moment he saw that Jensen was gone. When he saw that Wolfe's bed was also empty he roared in fury.

Pooch, Clay, and Roque jumped up and instinctively scanned the area. Pooch couldn't believe what he was seeing; actually he couldn't believe what he wasn't seeing. Wolfe and Jensen were gone.

Roque just smiled as he said, "Let's go get us a mother-fucker."

Clay snarled as he questioned, "Which way?'

Pooch looked around helplessly as he shrugged. "I don't know Colonel. He could have gone in any direction. Even towards the fortress just to throw us off."

Roque shook his head. "It's okay Poochie-boy. I got this."

Pooch watched curiously as Roque did a once around the clearing. Clay answered Pooch's unasked question. "Before Roque got into demolition and tactical he was one hell of a tracker."

Cougar intently watched as the men he could always count on began to help him search for his love. Roque continued to look for the start of the trail that they would follow to find Jensen as Cougar silently berated himself. But soon silence wasn't enough. "I never should have left."

Clay looked sharply at Cougar. "Cougar."

No response.

He tried again. "Cougar."

Finally the sniper looked at Clay.

"You went to relive yourself didn't you?"

At the silent man's nod of confirmation Clay inhaled deeply. "Cougar you had to go away from the campsite so that you wouldn't entice any curious animals into the clearing. You know that. We know that. And I know that you hadn't gone since yesterday afternoon when we all went upon first arriving here. You can't refrain from your natural body functions without serious side effects. What if you had gotten a bladder infection? You'd be useless to us during the mission if you were struck down with those symptoms."

Before Clay could see whether or not his speech made a difference, Roque called Cougar to him. Clay didn't take exception to Roque not calling him. Jensen may be his man but he is Cougar's future lover. That took precedence right now.

The men strode swiftly to where Roque was standing. As they approached him they saw that he was pointing towards something caught in the bark of a tree. "It's the material from Jensen's bedroll. The bastard went this way." Roque took the lead as they followed the trail that Wolfe had unknowingly left behind.

Roque lead them through a dizzying trail of twists and turns. Wolfe had apparently tried to disguise his route. Yet he must have been more interested in putting distance between them than actually hiding his tracks.

After five minutes of following the twists and turns the trail suddenly became blazingly clear to all of them. It was as if Wolfe had suddenly just hauled ass straight to the east.

"What the hell is he doing? Running to meet the sun?" Roque asked in stunned amazement at the lack of an attempt at hiding the trail any longer.

Cougar growled low and deep. "He knows we would follow as soon as we discovered them gone. Instead of trying to hide his trail now he is trying to have as much time with Jake as he can."

Clay took in Cougar's deadly demeanor. "Yeah but he thinks those twists and turns will buy him some time. He doesn't know that Roque's a tracker. That was never put into his military file."

Pooch sneered a smile almost as deadly as Cougar's. "Good. Let's get this asshole!"

Wolfe stopped when he felt that he had placed a safe distance between them and the others. He gently laid the young hacker down on the ground. He undid the bedroll to reveal the tempting body of the blonde within as he reached into the pouch hidden within his other boot. He took out the antidote to the previous drug along with a vial that contained a paralytic.

The disturbed sniper jabbed both drugs into Jensen's system at once. The antidote woke up the boy while the paralytic made sure that he would be unable to move during what was about to happen.

Once Jensen was able to focus his eyes Wolfe came into view. The young man felt a tremor of terror as he realized that he was alone with a severely deranged psycho and unable to move or speak.

The unstable man leered down at Jensen while removing his shirt. Jensen's eyes fell upon the scars that were revealed. They practically covered his whole chest. "You like what you see don't you? Don't worry, you'll feel me against you soon enough."

Jensen tried to will his body to move. When that didn't work he tried to will his vocal cords to produce sound. He screamed out for Cougar with his mind. When none of that worked he could feel the tears fall from his eyes.

Upon seeing the tears falling from Jensen's eyes Wolfe wiped them gently away. "Don't worry my pet. I won't kill you. Your scars and painful memories are just what I need to torment Alvarez for the rest of his miserable life. He will always know that I, the best sniper in the world, had his mate first. Whenever he fucks you he will know that you are always thinking of me and our beautiful time together."

Jensen screamed inside his head as he tried to thrash his body with all his might. But it was no use. He still couldn't move or speak. But he could feel everything. He could feel Wolfe cut away his clothes, tearing them from him body to leave him bare. He could feel Wolfe caress his skin with rough hands.

Wolfe leaned down to place a harsh demanding kiss upon Jensen's lips. As much as Jensen wanted to fight, he could not. He felt Wolfe's lips trail down his neck and onto his chest. They continued their way down his body, stopping to lap at Jensen's navel. The young hacker could feel his mind slip away as he refused to witness his own rape. He slipped into subspace as the foul beast took Jensen's flaccid member into his mouth and suckled as he fondled Jensen's testicles.

"I should have told you that I had to leave." Cougar was running as fast as he could through the jungle without stumbling and breaking his neck. But he still could not let go of what he believed he had done.

"Cougs, man. He would have found a way. You know that. If he really wanted Jensen bad enough, he would have found a way." Pooch was running hard to keep up with Cougar. When they found Jensen and the shit hit the fan he wanted to have his men's backs every step of the way.

Yelling could be heard up ahead. They were getting very close. Just a few more feet and they burst through the tree line. Pooch stopped short at the sight before him. Jensen was laid out on the ground with Wolfe kneeling between his legs. All of Jensen's clothes appeared to have been torn from his body. Wolfe's one hand had just slipped off of Jensen's dick while the other hand punched him across the face. He was actually angry at Jensen for not becoming hard. _What the fuck?_

Cougar had not stopped running though. He had run headlong into Wolfe tackling him off of the bruised and traumatized Jensen. As Cougar regained a standing position, he whipped a knife out of the sheath that was tied around his thigh.

Clay and Roque ran past Pooch and headed straight for Jensen. Pooch pulled himself together and went to see if he could salvage any of Jensen's clothes.

Wolfe taunted Cougar as they circled each other. "You're too late Alvarez. He's already been mine. I've marked him."

Cougar circled Wolfe as he concentrated on what he had to do and not on what the asshole said.

As Wolfe and Cougar were sizing each other up, Roque and Clay were checking over Jensen. They were also keeping an eye on Cougar to see if he needed them. They knew he wouldn't though. Wolfe's fate was decided the moment he took Jensen.

Pooch approached the two men hovering over the still form of their friend. "None of his clothes are salvageable."

Clay didn't take his eyes off of their catatonic friend but did answer the worried mechanic. "That's okay Pooch. He has more clothes back at our campsite."

Roque finished examining Jensen as a scream erupted from Wolfe. He had charged Cougar and at the last second Cougar had turned and sliced open Wolfe's left forearm. Roque smiled as he could see that Cougar was going to drag this out painfully. _Good. That's what the fucker gets for messing with our little bro._

Roque turned back to Clay and explained what the evidence said happened. "Clay. Jensen wasn't raped. His ass hasn't even been touched. And there aren't any suspicious fluids or markings around his mouth. The only marks on him are a few small hickies, some bruising around his eye from where the prick hit him and there's some saliva on his cock."

Pooch nodded. "When Cougar and I first arrived he was yelling and hitting Jensen for not becoming hard as he sucked him."

Another yell exploded from the fight going on behind them. Cougar had sliced open Wolfe's right thigh. "That's it Cougar. Don't touch the arteries. Make him suffer." Clay smiled viciously as he watched Cougar cut Wolfe's other thigh open. He turned back to Roque. "Then what's wrong with him. Why isn't he moving?"

Roque pointed out the puncture wounds on Jensen's neck. "He probably drugged him so that he couldn't fight back. But that's not what's wrong with him." Roque looked down at Jensen with a grim look on his face. "I believe that the awfulness and disbelief of being sexually assaulted has sent Jensen's mind into a safe place for now. You know, like Subspace. The place we let our minds go while we're being tortured so that it disconnects from the pain."

Pooch and Clay both nodded. All three men turned and faced the fight when they heard Cougar begin to speak.

"You were in such a rush to run from me that you didn't watch to make sure that you did not leave a trail. That was a very deadly mistake. One you pay for now!"

Cougar sprung at Wolfe and tackled him to the ground. Wolfe, beginning to weaken from the lack of blood caused by all the minor wounds Cougar had inflicted, tumbled beneath Cougar.

Cougar smiled mercilessly at Wolfe. "Don't worry though, pendejo.(Asshole.) You won't die right away. I'm gonna leave you here to suffer in agony until you die. Consider it a recompense for your abuse of my mate."

Cougar stood up and turned towards Roque. "Roque, may I borrow your Ros Arms Tiaga?"

Roque smiled maliciously as he handed Cougar his fighting knife.

Cougar turned back to Wolfe to finish his one last piece of revenge.

"You can't kill me." Wolfe pleaded miserably. "You need me to complete the mission. They still want Salvador."

Roque sneered at the dying man. "We NEVER needed you dickwad!"

Wolfe screamed in agony as Cougar sliced off his manhood. Then Cougar turned and walked over to Jensen without ever looking back.

Cougar knelt beside his sweet Jensen and felt tears flood his eyes. Clay put his hand on Cougar's shoulder. "He wasn't penetrated Cougar. That prick kissed him, hit him and sucked him; but he didn't have him. Not even his mind. Jensen went into Subspace. We just need to bring him out of it."

Pooch nodded in agreement. "We can't salvage his clothes but he has more back at our campsite. We'll just carry him back."

"I'll carry him."

Roque didn't think that was such a good idea. "Why don't you let me carry him Cougar?"

"I…WILL…CARRY…HIM."

After enunciating his intentions Cougar brought the still withdrawn blonde into his arms and began to carry him back to the campsite.

The men watched as the smaller Cougar never even struggled under the mass of the bigger Jensen.

They saw Cougar suddenly veer to the left and followed him without question. When they arrived at a spring they watched as Cougar gently washed the younger man's body, removing all trace of what had just occurred from Jensen. It would never take away the memories, but it was the start of the healing process. For both of them.

When Cougar was done with Jensen's bath they made their way back to the campsite. Once there, Cougar laid Jensen down upon his own bedroll. They had left Jensen's back with Wolfe; it was torn and ragged from the abduction anyway. He then dressed his love in the hacker's spare warm comfortable clothing. Then he sat down beside Jensen and did not move. After three hours of no response Cougar laid down beside Jensen, wrapped Jensen in his arms and whispered, "Volver a mí mi dulce Jake. Necesito." ("Come back to me my sweet Jake. I need you.")

TBC in Chapter 8.

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I'm sorry to all of you who like hurt Jensen. I enjoy reading a good angst/hurt story too. However, I just couldn't bear to hurt Jensen too much. I tried, I just couldn't bear to do it. So I'm sorry for all of you who wanted me to torture Jensen. I just couldn't do it. Now if it was about torturing Roque...


	8. Bringing Jensen Back & The Plan

Thank you, **Castiel's drycleaner,** for your support and for being an awesome Beta.

And thank you to my reviewers of Chapter 7: Deth Faenim, Ectofralamazoo, Thornangel, gottalovealoser, LaylaBinx, DeceptionsDance, LaVioleBlanche, DevilChile, SivanShemesh3 and Riley Carbine. I love reading what you think about my story.

YAY! You guys got me to over 60 reviews. Awesome! Thank you. Lets keep going.

And to gottalovealoser: I miss your d-message but I enjoy hearing about it the day after. It always has me laughing. Thank you.

To all of you who love long chapters, here you go!

By the way, there are some awesome stories that I have on alert. If you're interested, check out: Hell hath no fury by gottalovealoser, Before and After Death by Castiel's drycleaner, Calvin Klein and Big Cats by Ectofralamazoo, Fear of the Unknown by Alex Kade, An Asssassin's Love by amberlovespeaceX, Becoming A Loser by Ash. A. Leah, Prom Night by DevilChile, Sixty Days in Exile by Mahiri Chuma, The Hat by Shady Carson, The World on Fire byAgaetis Byrjun, Finding Yourself by X-Sadistic-Bitch-X, I've been hard to reach & They Would Have by staytruetoyou, Not Belong by sivanshemesh3 and What the Heart Wants by HeavensWeatherHellsCompany.

I'm sorry, I know that's a lot. I can't help it. I love Loser fics. But I need your help. Some of the authors are great at updating but some of them need a little help so if you read, please review and tell them that **we want more**. Tell them they can blame me. Thank you for all your help.

Jensen's Petunia

* * *

It had been twelve hours, twelve long excruciating hours waiting for Jensen to come back to them. To come back to him.

Cougar had not moved once, not even to pee. He'd made that particular mistake once before. He still had his body snuggled up next to Jensen's with his arm wrapped around the catatonic blonde. The serious sniper had never, in his entire life, been as afraid as he was now. Not even when he was abducted by the Honduran General and tortured viciously for six days with no knowledge of where his team was or if they were even alive. The only fear that even came close was the fear that Cougar had felt when Jensen had…he hated to think the word 'fainted' because he knew that Jake would refuse to admit it…but well, fainted when Cougar had told him that he loved him.

Jensen, with the exception of his steady breathing, had not moved nor made a sound the entire twelve hours. Cougar would have been as restless and as anxious as a caged, well cougar, if not for Jensen's steady breathing. That was all the proof he needed that Jensen could and would make it back to him.

He just wished that it wasn't taking the hacker so long. He missed Jensen's voice. He missed all the rambling one-sided conversations that always went off on tangents and never resumed their original course. He missed the way Jensen would pinch the bridge of his nose when he was stressed. Cougar also missed Jensen's sleepwalking/talking. It may have been inconvenient and somewhat annoying trying to corral a non-filtered Jensen stuck in his subconscious, but to be fair, Jensen's brain to mouth filter didn't work properly when he was conscious.

Cougar rested himself up on his left elbow so that he could look into Jensen's still blue eyes yet again. He's lost count of how many times he'd done this through the night. He never received any response. Yet he would look into Jensen's eyes, rub his chest and stomach with his right hand and whisper to Jensen, "No puedo perder de te. Sólo realmente he encontrado le. Por favor, vuelva a mí." (I can't lose you. I've just truly found you. Please come back to me.)

Though they did not know what it was Cougar was whispering to Jensen, they knew those words were important for they were the only words Cougar had spoken since they had returned to the campsite.

However, they had had many words during the last twelve hours. Clay, Roque and Pooch had been too wired, pissed and worried to sleep. Even Roque, who barely tolerated Jensen on a daily basis, kept looking worriedly over at him and mumbling, "Come on, kid. Wake up!"

Despite their worry for Jensen, the men also had the upcoming mission on their mind.

"How the hell are we supposed to do this Colonel?" Poor Pooch had scratched his bald head so much over the past twelve hours that he'd drawn blood over ten percent of his scalp and didn't even notice.

"Shit, I don't know Pooch. But we have to come up with something." Clay looked over to Cougar's bedroll for what had to be the ten-thousandth time since returning to the clearing. Jensen still hadn't moved and Cougar was lying down beside him yet again.

Roque followed Clay's eyes to the other two men and just realized that something was different. "Hey, where's Cougar's hat?"

Pooch was the one who answered though, not Clay. "Cougar took it off two minutes ago. Look at Jensen's left hand."

Clay and Roque followed Pooch's direction. Cougar had placed his hat in Jensen's left hand so that Jensen could feel both the brim and the crown. Pooch smiled bitter-sweetly. "I guess Cougs is hoping that even though Jensen isn't seeing anything right now, he can still feel. Maybe Jensen will feel the hat and wonder why they hell he's being allowed to touch it. Maybe he'll be shocked out of his state of shock!"

Pooch was getting excited. And not for the first time that day. Every time Cougar tried something new with Jensen, Pooch would get his hopes up. But nothing that Cougar tried had worked so far. So Pooch would get depressed and once again begin scratching his scalp.

Clay and Roque looked at Pooch with a combination of hope and pity in their eyes. Hope that he may be right but pity because they knew that most likely he would be disappointed.

Roque shook his head. They had to focus here. "Damn it!" He did not want to say what he was about to say. "We have to figure out what to do. We need to complete our mission and get Jensen some help."

For the first time in Roque's life, he wanted to say screw the mission. Jensen needed help and he needed it now. They could't wait until after they completed the mission. That was if they even survived. It would only be the three of them when the original plan would have had six men, two of which were snipers.

"Fuck the mission." Clay's face was a mask of fury. "They screwed it up when they sent us a fucking unhinged nutcase to work with. We can get them Salvador some other time. After we get Jensen some help."

"No."

Clay, Roque and Pooch froze. They turned as one to face Cougar.

Cougar was sitting with his back against the tree behind his bedroll. Jensen's head was resting in Cougar's lap. The sniper was looking at them with a severely serious look in his eyes. "We know why they want Salvador. The man's a monster. He needs to be stopped."

They all knew Cougar was right. But it was suicide for the three of them to attempt it. As if reading their minds, Cougar continued. "I know how the four of us can do it."

"The four of us?" Pooch looked at Cougar in surprise.

Clay didn't. He sighed deeply as he thought of the plan Cougar probably had in mind.

Roque nodded. He thought he also knew what Cougar might be thinking.

Pooch however, hadn't gotten past 'the four of us'. "Cougar, what are you talking about? We can't leave Jensen alone. It's too dangerous. We can't take him with us. It's too dangerous. We-"

"Jensen will be safe here." Cougar was staring down at Jensen with a tender look in his dark eyes.

Before Pooch could get a word out, Clay began speaking. "Cougar's right. Wolfe is no longer a concern. And this clearing is far enough away from the fortress to be safe. If we erect the tent and put Jensen in it while we're gone, he should be safe from both the elements and the animals."

Clay knew that this was going to be hard for Cougar. Normally Clay would have an emotionally distracted soldier stand down on a mission. But, if they had any hope of surviving they would need Cougar's help.

"Fuck!" Pooch looked at the others. "What about that prick? Mission control wanted him back alive. Remember? They even ordered no missing body parts. Well now he's dead and missing a very specific body part. What are we gonna do about him?"

Cougar looked at his teammates. "I will tell them that I-"

"When we debrief on our mission we'll tell them that he died in the course of it." Clay's tone of voice left no room for argument.

Roque nodded. "He did die during a mission."

At every one's quizzical looks Roque elaborated. "He apparently had his own mission since the first moment he stepped into this clearing. Probably since he first accepted the mission to capture Salvador. "

Pooch still looked a bit confused. The poor man needed food, sleep and for Jensen to wake up.

"We all saw how Wolfe looked at Jensen. I'm betting that's the reason why we're here so damn early. I don't know how he did it, but he got mission control to agree to get us here four days ahead of the mark so he could get Jensen." Roque couldn't figure out who Wolfe was that he would have such pull. What he needed was Jensen to work his magic on his computer and get them some answers. _Jensen…wake up kid. We need you. _

"Yes." Cougar had already thought of that the second that Wolfe had said they were there to learn each other's weaknesses and strengths. That was just a load of crock. _As Jensen liked to say. Likes to say. Likes. He's not dead. He's not!_

"Okay. Wolfe died during the mission." Pooch couldn't help but ask his next question. "And how exactly are we gonna end up not dead after this mission?"

Clay nodded. "Cougar?"

Cougar stopped running his hand through Jensen's spikes so that he could fully focus while telling them his plan. "We get Salvador as soon as he arrives. Before he enters the fortress. If we can without being seen, we plant bombs all around the fortress walls and trigger them to explode at the same time. Thus causing mass chaos. Pooch and I shoot cover fire as Roque and Clay grab Salvador. If we cannot plant the bombs, we throw grenades rapid fire."

The other three men digest this information. It sounded like a good plan. But it would work out much better if they were able to plant the bombs. They could place them where they would take out the highest number of guards. That way there would be less of them to shoot and to fight with in hand-to-hand combat.

"We need intel from Mission Control on when to expect Salvador. Pooch," Clay began dispensing orders, "contact them and find out all you can. Roque, you and I will take an updated inventory of our weapons and ammunition. Get anything useful from Wolfe's things." Clay turned towards Cougar. "Cougar, you can set up the tent for Jensen. It might be more comfortable for him and encourage him to come back to us faster."

Cougar dislodged Jensen from his lap and set his head comfortably back on the bedroll. He had just withdrawn his hands from Jensen's body and stood up when Jensen bolted upright and made a grab for Cougar. The shaking, frightened hacker screamed. "Don't leave me Cougar. I need you!"

Everyone reacted as if a nuclear bomb had gone off. Pooch dropped the radio he was about to transmit on and rushed to Jensen's side. Roque and Clay dropped the weapons they were beginning to sift through and ran to where the other men were.

As soon as Jensen moved, Cougar reacted. He was back on his knees and holding Jensen to him. He was gently rocking the man in his arms back and forth while murmuring things such as, "Shh. I'm here." and "I'll never leave you. Never!"

A trembling Jensen was holding onto Cougar as if Cougar were his life-force. Were he to let go, he would die.

They all remained quiet as Jensen calmed down. Jensen stopped trembling after a few minutes of being held and surrounded by one-half of the most important people in his life. When the terror and stress of the previous twenty-four hours no longer had him locked within his own mind, Jensen smiled tentatively at his friends.

They all smiled back, unsure of what he needed them to do at this moment.

"Hey guys." Jensen was unsure of what to say next. A first for him. Even in the direst of situations, he always had a smart-ass comment to lighten the mood. There was one thing that he felt he had to say before he could say anything else. "Thanks for coming to get me."

"Jensen." They all said it. However, they all said it with different inflections.

Cougar said it on a sigh as if he had expected Jensen to say something like that.

Pooch said it with a question at the end as if Jensen was just being plain stupid if he thought they wouldn't come for him.

Roque said it with a growl as if to say he was being ridiculous for thanking them for such a thing.

Clay said it as a father would say his son's name when the son had gotten into trouble and needed to be bailed out.

"Are you okay? Stupid question. How do you feel?" Pooch was trying to keep his voice calm and steady but was having trouble. Just remembering what he had seen when they first reached Jensen was upsetting him again.

"I'm okay. Now that I'm back with you guys, I'm okay." Jensen still had not let go of Cougar.

And Cougar was not letting go of him.

"What do you remember Jensen?" Clay wanted to know if Jensen was back with them. Going into Sub-space is a survival instinct. Coming back out of it, especially after so long, could be very confusing.

Jensen took a deep breath. He shut his eyes as he relieved his horrifying memories. "I remember that Cougar loves me as I love him." He smiled brightly as he kept his eyes shut.

Cougar smiled as the others looked at Jensen expectantly. They were waiting for the pain and horror to begin.

"We came back to the clearing and went to sleep." Jensen frowned. "Then I remember waking up to a sharp pain in my neck. A hand covered my mouth and then nothing until I'm with Wolfe somewhere in the jungle. He…" Jensen took a deep breath before he continued. "He cut off my clothes. I tried to move and to scream but I couldn't. All I could do was see, hear and feel. I couldn't move. I wanted to fight. I needed to fight so badly but I couldn't."

Jensen's eyes flew open and searched out Cougar's. "I tried to scream for you Cougar. I did. I screamed as loud as I could in my own mind but I couldn't get my voice to do the same. It wouldn't obey me. My body wouldn't obey me either. I wanted to fight. I did. I really did. You know that right Cougar? You know that I wanted to fight him?"

Cougar rubbed Jensen back as he tried to calm him down. "I know amor. I know."

Pooch also stepped in to reassure Jensen. "It wasn't your fault you couldn't fight J-man. He paralyzed you. With a drug that made it so you wouldn't be able to move but you would be able to hear, see and feel just like you said."

Jensen smiled, "I knew that had to be it. I knew it." Then his smile faded. "I didn't want him to touch me. I never wanted him to touch me."

Cougar nodded as he said once again, "I know amor. I know."

Jensen started shaking. "He, he wanted to rape me. He wanted to 'claim' me before you did. Said you could have me when he was done, if you still wanted me. He…he took me into his mouth. But he didn't arouse me and got pissed. He hit me. Then tried again. I still didn't respond like he wanted me to."

Jensen had tears running down his cheeks. But the others didn't mention them. He needed to release what he was feeling. Needed to get it out like it was a poison infecting his system. And they would let him. They would listen until he was all talked and cried out. Then they would comfort him some more. And help him start to heal. Start to put it behind him. Start to forget. Because they were a family. Not just a military unit. Not just friends. A family.

But Jensen would never forget. It would pain him less as he learned to move on, but he would never forget. Never!

Jensen started groaning a little. "I couldn't stay there. I couldn't. I had to leave. Not being able to fight or scream or do anything to help myself…I had to leave. I couldn't stay there."

They all knew he was talking about Sub-space.

Jensen started shaking fiercely. "Do you Carlos?"

Cougar looked down at Jensen as if he wasn't sure of what Jensen was asking. _Surely he didn't think that what happened would change the way I feel._

"Do I what Jake?" He needed to hear Jensen say it for he still couldn't believe that Jensen thought what he was thinking.

Jensen looked up at Cougar with trepidation in his eyes. "Do you still want me? Now that he's had me first and ruined what should have been yours."

Pain and tears filled Cougar's eyes. He took Jensen's chin in his hand and made sure that Jensen was looking him in the eyes. "No matter what he did to you, you are mine. MINE! Do you understand that Jake?"

Jensen smiled as he looked at Cougar's determined face. He read the truth of what he said right there. Although Cougar would never lie to him anyway. Never. "Yes, Carlos. I understand."

Cougar nodded his head sharply as if to punctuate Jensen's statement.

"Jensen."

Jensen turned to look at Roque.

"Jensen, he didn't rape you."

"What?"

"He didn't rape you. He never had the chance." Roque looked Jensen hard in the eyes.

Roque wouldn't lie to him about this.

"Yeah Jensen." Pooch continued Roque's thought. "We must have gotten there right after you went into Sub-space. When we arrived, Wolfe was…trying to arouse you. When it didn't work, he hit you."

"So he didn't…"

"No Jensen." Clay took his turn to speak. "He wasn't able to. We got there. Cougar got him away from you and Roque and Pooch checked you out. All you had were some hickies, some bruises and some saliva on your…ah…dick."

Jensen turned back to Cougar. "What did you do to him?"

Cougar didn't hesitate as he answered, "I killed him. Slowly. Painfully. He should not have touched you."

"Yeah," Roque laughed. "Then he sliced off his dick!" He continued to chuckle.

Jensen looked around at their faces. "What happened then? Did you leave him there? What if someone finds him? What if…saliva? I have his saliva on me? I need to-"

Cougar calmed Jensen at once. "No amor. I took care of it. I bathed you in the spring."

Jensen began to relax as he trusted Cougar to make sure that he was clean. He looked under his shirt and could see that the hickies were already fading. _That's good. Fade bitches fade. No reminders. We'll be home in a few days. I don't want Carlos to be reminded._

"How about some grub?" Pooch was hungry but his main reason for mentioning food was to give Cougar and Jensen some time to themselves. "What do you say Colonel? Roque? Are you guys hungry? I sure am. Cougar? Jensen? You hungry? I'm gonna go make some food. Colonel, Roque would you help me?" Before they could respond, Pooch was already halfway across the clearing, heading towards the supplies-filled jeep. "Thanks. Let's go."

Cougar and Jensen watched the others walk away to leave them with some privacy. Jensen couldn't help but notice the scratches on Pooch's head. "Pooch man, what happened to your head?"

Pooch turned back around for a minute as he answered Jensen. "A spider man. It was crawling on me and I had to get it off before it laid eggs."

Jensen didn't look convinced. He knew Pooch tended to scratch his head when he was worried or stressed. _Today must have been hard on all of them._

As the others prepared their meal, Cougar and Jensen did not speak much. Mostly they held each other and took comfort in the fact that they were there together.

Pooch, Clay and Roque brought over the food and they ate mostly in silence. When they were finished eating the meal, the men told Jensen of their plans for the mission. Including the bit about leaving him behind in the tent to recuperate.

He told them under no circumstances was he being left behind while they went off on a foolish, suicidal mission without him. Jensen then said that it would be much better for three people to be laying down cover fire for Clay and Roque than just two.

After a slight nod from Cougar, that Jensen did not see, they all agreed. The plan was set. They just needed to figure out when would be the time to spring it.

They all passed out not long after eating. With Wolfe dead and the fortress a safe distance away, they didn't feel the need to place a guard on watch. It was highly non-protocol, but they all needed the sleep.

Jensen fell asleep in Cougar's arms as they both laid within Cougar's bedroll. It was sweet to see the bigger man being cradled by the smaller man.

After a few hours of sleep, Jensen woke up from a dream that had him determined to find answers. He carefully slipped out of Cougar's arms and headed for his laptop. He glanced back at Cougar as he excitedly thought about how he'd just proven that the sniper did in fact have the ability to sleep.

What he didn't realize was that the moment he moved, Cougar woke up. But he let Jensen slip out of his grip and go to his computer. The poor hacker was probably going through withdrawal from being away from it for so long.

Cougar kept his eyes slitted so that he could watch for any sign that Jensen needed him. But the hacker didn't. Cougar fell back asleep after he felt certain that Jensen would be content with being on his computer for a few hours.

What Cougar didn't see was the look of horror that crossed Jensen's face when he finally found the answers he was looking for.

TBC in Chapter 9.


	9. Mission and Knowledge

**HAPPY LABOR DAY!**

Thank you, **Castiel's drycleaner,** for your support and for being an awesome Beta.

And thank you to my reviewers of Chapter 8: DevilChile, Deth Faenim, Ectofralamazoo, DeceptionsDance, gottalovealoser, sivanshemesh3, LaylaBinx, Littledragon131313 and obeyshi. I love reading what you think about my story.

And to gottalovealoser: Just a few more days until **CC**.

AND IN CASE YOU FORGOT: There are some awesome stories that I have on alert. If you're interested, check out: Hell hath no fury by gottalovealoser, Before and After Death by Castiel's drycleaner, Calvin Klein and Big Cats by Ectofralamazoo, Fear of the Unknown by Alex Kade, An Asssassin's Love by amberlovespeaceX, Becoming A Loser by Ash. A. Leah, Prom Night by DevilChile, Sixty Days in Exile by Mahiri Chuma, The Hat by Shady Carson, The World on Fire byAgaetis Byrjun, Finding Yourself by X-Sadistic-Bitch-X, I've been hard to reach & They Would Have by staytruetoyou, Not Belong by sivanshemesh3 and What the Heart Wants by HeavensWeatherHellsCompany.

I'm sorry, I know that's a lot. I can't help it. I love Loser fics. But I still need your help. Some of the authors are great at updating but some of them need a little help so if you read, please review and tell them that **we want more**. Tell them they can blame me. Thank you for all your help.

Jensen's Petunia

* * *

The men were ready to go home. They were waiting in the clearing for their transportation. Salvador was sedated and laying in the jeep. They had not moved him since placing him there. For the first time in Loser history, a mission had gone completely according to plan.

Roque and Pooch had placed the explosives around the north and west sides of the fortress. Cougar and Clay had placed the explosives around the south and east sides of the fortress. Jensen had stayed with the jeep monitoring the transmissions coming from within. Any guards they had come into contact with had been dealt with swiftly and silently.

Once the explosives had been placed the men fell back to get ready to intercept Salvador. Pooch, Cougar and Jensen took up defensive cover-fire positions while Pooch readied his finger on the trigger that would activate the explosives. Clay and Roque hid themselves as close as they could to where Salvador's transport would exit the jungle.

The men had decided to try and get Salvador before the fortress guards even knew what was going on. Then they would blow the explosives if they needed to use a distraction to get away.

Pooch and Jensen had shot out the transport's tires while Cougar, Clay and Roque had taken out Salvador's escort. Roque sedated Salvador and then loaded him into the back of the Jeep where Roque could keep guard over him. Pooch and Clay settled into the front seats while Jensen and Cougar climbed in behind them. Cougar readied himself in case his rifle was needed to expedite their getaway.

Pooch had just started to drive away as a commotion could be heard coming from the fortress. Apparently the abandoned convoy and dead guards had been spotted. Without hesitation, Clay pushed the button that triggered the explosives. He was tired of this damn mission and just wanted to get his men home.

So now they were back at their campsite waiting for the chopper that would take them home. Roque had just checked Salvador and saw that he was still heavily sedated. Pooch and Cougar had just finished making sure that the supplies they would be taking with them were properly packed and ready to go. Clay was on the radio with the chopper pilot discussing their eta.

The only loser not doing anything was Jensen. At least not anything physical. His mind however was running at warp speed. He couldn't stop thinking about the information he had discovered the other night. Now that the mission was completed and they would be on their way home soon, he could let himself feel the shock at what he had learned.

Cougar was the first to realize that Jensen was upset. He saw his compañero (mate) sitting upon the tree that they had been using as a table. The tan hacker was paler than usual. Something was definitely on his mind.

Cougar cautiously made his way over to Jensen. If Jensen was deeply entranced in his thoughts, the sniper didn't want to startle him. As he arrived at the overturned tree, he sat down next to Jensen.

The others noticed how Jensen was as soon as they saw Cougar head over to him. As Cougar took Jensen's hand in his, the others made their way towards them.

Jensen looked up as soon as he felt Cougar touch him. Cougar was sitting beside him, Pooch had taken a seat on the ground near Jensen, Clay was standing a few feet in front of Jensen and Roque was leaning against the front of the jeep.

"What bug crawled up your ass Jensen?" Leave it to Roque to get the conversation started.

_Burro. (Jackass.) _If it wasn't for the look on Jensen's face, Cougar would have broken Roque's nose for being a total, uncouth ass. _Although, if he wasn't, how would we recognize him?_

Jensen took his time answering. That, in itself, was worrisome. But the trembling of his lips right before he began talking added to their agitation. "The other night, the night we planned the mission-" He couldn't bring himself to say the night he came out of subspace after what had happened with Wolfe. "I woke up sometime in the night-"

"One a.m." Cougar supplied Jensen with the time that Jensen slipped out of his arms.

"You knew? What am I saying? Of course you knew. But you did sleep right? You were asleep before I moved weren't you? You can sleep?" Jensen had to make sure that he really had proven that Cougar had the ability to sleep.

"Of course I can sleep. I just sleep better when you're in my arms." Cougar winked at Jensen.

"Aww. That's so sweet. Can we get on with this please?" Roque was grinning as he gruffly continued. "Before the chopper gets here?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Anyway I woke up from a nightmare…" Jensen paused as he saw how tense Cougar became at the word nightmare. When the Spaniard didn't say anything Jensen continued cautiously. "I had to have some answers. So I turned on Bethany and started looking."

The men all smiled at the name of Jensen's computer. He named all of his electronics. Usually after someone he cared about. Bethany was named in honor of Analicia's middle name.

"Looking for what J-man?" Pooch was watching Jensen carefully. He didn't want to cause the blonde any more pain but if it helped Jensen to get it out, he would listen. No matter how much talking Jensen did.

"I needed answers. About Wolfe. I needed to know how much of what he told me was truth and how much of what he told me was bullshit." He took a deep breath before continuing. "I found out that and much more."

Cougar smiled to himself as Jensen was talking. Without realizing it, Jensen had snuggled himself in Cougar's arms.

Nestled against Cougar's side, Jensen continued with his story. "The other day, as we were collecting the firewood, Wolfe had been telling me a story about his life. You know, stuff like where he was born, how he got in the military, the important people in his life. Stuff like that. And it turns out that most of it had indeed been a story."

Jensen wrapped his arms around Cougar's waist and rested his head on Cougar's shoulder. "He was born in Cuba. And his parents were murdered when he was a kid. But he didn't have a grandmother in New Jersey. He was raised by an uncle in New York who never really had anything to do with him."

Roque muttered, "Poor baby."

"So he got into a lot of trouble." Jensen went on. "But he became a very proficient killer, which is how he was recruited to the military. A special program facility with the code name Harvest Moon took him and trained him to be even more deadly. They also tried erasing any evidence that he ever existed. They did a pretty good job too, just not good enough to stop me from finding it."

They all smiled at Jensen's cockiness. It reminded them of the past. It might take him a while to deal with all that had happened the past few days, but at least the healing had already started and was shining through.

"He didn't have a boyfriend named Rafi that was killed. But there was a hand-to-hand combat expert that he trained with while at the facility whose partner was named Rafi. According to the unofficial 'incident' report, they called it a fucking incident but I saw the pictures. It was horrible. And I mean horrible. Worse than what we saw in Budapest. Worse than what we saw in Istanbul. Much worse than what we saw in Cairo."

Jensen was working himself up. Cougar tried to calm him down by rubbing his back while intermittently squeezing him tightly against the sniper's side. He could understand why Jensen would be upset. The places that Jensen had brought up had been horrible missions. Lots of pain, fear, blood and death. Those places had been the worst missions of their military career. Successful, yes. They had gotten the men responsible for such tragedy but it didn't ease the memories of what they had seen.

"Jake."

Jensen looked to Cougar.

"Right. Right. Well, Wolfe didn't like being second best to Rolph Chekov. That was the hand-to-hand combat expert. In fact, according to the report, Wolfe always referred to Chekov as being second best compared to him. Anyway, Wolfe wanted to get back at Chekov for being the best and wanted to cause him as much pain as he possibly could."

Cougar could feel Jensen becoming tense once again. He knew what Jensen was about to reveal to them.

"So he…he waited until Chekov was on a mission and then attacked his partner, Rafi. He raped and tortured him for days. Even after Rafi had passed away from the pain and blood loss, Wolfe still continued to rape and mutilate his body."

Jensen shuttered. "Then he stole the ring that represented Chekov's and Rafi's relationship from his finger. The military didn't know what he had done with it but I saw it. He wore it on the chain that was around his neck."

Jensen started shaking his head. He was having a problem wrapping his head around what he was about to say. "After everything Wolfe did the military just cleaned up and sold Chekov's house, paid for Rafi's burial and transferred Chekov to a different facility. Apparently there are quite a few around the US and even a couple situated around the world."

"More than that Jensen." Roque knew that the military never reported true numbers of anything they had, especially if it was as important as this facility apparently was to them. So if Jensen had only found a few, there was probably twice more than that.

"And all they did to Wolfe was perform a psych eval which-"

"Which was found to be normal." Clay finished Jensen's story for him.

"Yeah." Jensen said in astonishment.

Pooch was dying of curiosity. "Why did the military do nothing after all this happened?"

Roque snorted.

Clay answered Pooch. "Because Wolfe was a proficient killer who didn't hesitate to do what sane men wouldn't."

The losers all looked above them as they could hear the whirl of the chopper blades getting closer to them. It was time for them to go home.

TBC in Epilogue 1.


	10. Epilogue1 Home and Much More

Thank you, **Castiel's drycleaner,** for your support and for being an awesome Beta.

And thank you to my reviewers of Chapter 9: Ectofralamazoo, LaylaBinx, gottalovealoser, sivanshemesh3, Deth Faenim, DevilChile now HellzCrusader, and Littledragon131313. I love reading what you think about my story.

Here's a really long (at least for me anyway) chapter for ya.

To Deth Faenim: I swear that you are getting advance copies of what I write from my beta. This is the second time that you have figured out what will be happening next. Since she's the only one who has the copies it has to be either her or you're actually Jensen and have been hacking my computer. Which is it?

And to gottalovealoser: **CC** should be coming soon.

Speaking of gottalovealoser, check out her awesome Loser fic: Hell hath no fury

and check out Alex Kade's Loser fic: Fear of the Unknown

Jensen's Petunia

(aka JP)

* * *

The losers transported Salvador to the secret military facility that was affectionately called Ghostland. All the prisoners held there weren't officially there and it did not officially exist.

The losers had been debriefed and were allowed a month's furlough, with the option of being recalled in the event of an emergency. As they made their way to the awaiting SUV outside a man, who looked to be the same age as Clay, stopped them in the hall.

He was a good-looking gentleman with dusty blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes. When he spoke, he spoke with a Russian accent. "Hello Colonel Clay. Hello Roque, Pooch, Cougar and Jensen. I was wondering if I might be able to have a word with you."

The losers looked at him curiously. Usually the military referred to them by either their ranks or their last names, not by their nicknames.

He smiled at the confusion on the men's faces. "Please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rolph Chekov."

With the exception of Jensen, whose mouth dropped open while gasping in a breath of air, the losers withheld their surprise. Colonel Clay took Chekov's outstretched hand in his and shook it. "Chekov."

"I can see by Mr. Jensen's face that you already know who I am." Chekov withdrew his hand and continued to shake hands with the rest of the losers. First Roque, then Pooch, followed by Jensen and finally Cougar. Chekov smiled at Jensen as Jensen continued to stare at him. Jensen did finally close his mouth and went back to breathing normally.

As Chekov released Cougar's hand, he bowed his head to Cougar and then regained direct eye contact with the sniper. "I most especially wanted to thank you Mr. Carlos Alvarez, aka Cougar. Thank you for finally avenging my partner's," he paused to take a deep breath, "heinous murder. I've waited years for someone to finally take care of that bastard."

Chekov was silent for a moment. Then he shook his head and continued with what he had come to say. "Honestly, I would have preferred to do it myself. But after what happened those twenty years ago, the…facility," Chekov smiled as he knew they would know what he was talking about, "transferred me and made sure that I was never able to find him."

Chekov's face became a mask of rage and anguish. "I did look. Trust me. I looked. They hid him well though. And I've never had the pleasure of being in the presence of such an accomplished computer tech before." Chekov smiled at Jensen once again. "It truly is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Jensen."

Chekov could see the fading bruises on Jensen's face and the ones that trailed down his body and beneath his clothes. He could only hope that it hadn't been too horrible for Jensen and that his teammates had stopped Wolfe before he was able to hurt Jensen too bad.

"If I had been able to meet someone like you before, I would have handled this a long time ago." Chekov couldn't help but stare at Jensen's bruises. They brought back painful memories. He was becoming agitated with not knowing how badly Wolfe had hurt Jensen. He had never wanted Wolfe to have the ability to hurt anyone ever again.

Cougar could sense Chekov's agitation. He understood what was bothering the man. He saw how he the Russian stared at Jensen's bruises. Cougar saw the pain that entered Chekov's eyes. He had to ease the man's fears. "No thanks are necessary Mr. Chekov."

"Rolph, please."

Cougar nodded his acknowledgement. "No thanks are necessary Rolph." Cougar wrapped his arm around Jensen. The rest of the losers formed a protective wall around Cougar and Jensen in case any prying eyes were taking too much notice of what was happening.

Chekov observed their actions and smiled. His friends and teammates had been the same way with him and his partner-very protective. Some people just didn't understand or were just ignorant bigots who had nothing better to do than to harass them.

Cougar also observed his teammates' actions and the responding smile on Chekov's face. Jensen of course noticed nothing as he snuggled even closer to Cougar while still watching Chekov. "Wolfe was severely punished for his past transgressions. And for the fact that he dared to touch and use his mouth on my compañero (mate)."

Chekov took a deep breath. _So Jensen wasn't raped or tortured too badly. Thank you God._

Cougar could see the relief that crossed over Chekov's features. He was at least able to put to rest the man's fears of what happened to Jensen. _Si, Jensen was traumatized and needs some time to heal. But he will heal. Unlike Rafi._

Roque smiled at Chekov. "Yeah man. Cougar took care of that dickwad." He chuckled. "My man sliced him up so he could bleed to death slowly." Another laugh. "And he sliced off Wolfe's dick."

Clay smiled with Roque while Pooch just shook his head.

Chekov smiled brightly. His facial muscles stretched tightly over his face proving that it had indeed been a long time since Chekov had truly smiled. Probably not since before Rafi's murder. Chekov nodded to the losers once more. "Thank you for that. Truly. Now as I can see, you all are ready to go home and I do need to speak with someone. That's how I came to be here today. I just wanted to catch you before you left to thank you."

He shook hands with everyone once more and let them pass him as he continued down the hall.

"Rolph wait." Chekov turned around to see Jensen coming towards him. Cougar was following a few feet behind him. _You'll be doing that for quite some time Cougar. You won't want to let him out of your sight._

Jensen stopped in front of Chekov and reached into his pocket. He held his closed fist out to Chekov.

Chekov could not see what Jensen held in his hand but reached out to take whatever it was.

"I thought you might want this. If I was ever able to find you. And I just couldn't leave it there. That wouldn't have been right. Not right at all. So Cougar and I went back to get it." _And to burn Wolfe's body so that no one would be able to identify him even if they found his remains._ "If it had been me I would have wanted it back so I know that you would too. I-"

"Jake, amor, give it to him." Cougar smiled as he watched Jensen try to explain.

Chekov just looked at Jensen in amazement. Those were the first words, other than 'Rolph wait', that Jensen had spoken to him. _So, that's also true about the young hacker._

Jensen opened his fist and let the object fall into Chekov's waiting palm.

Chekov could only stare for the first minute. Jensen had just placed a ring in his palm. And not just any ring. Rafi's ring. He could clearly see the inscription of 'Rolph & Rafi-always'. Then he slowly closed his fist around it. Chekov looked up into Jensen's eyes.

Jensen could see the tears forming in Rolph's eyes. He could also see that Rolph was speechless. So Jensen just nodded once, waved and then ran back to the waiting Cougar. The losers then walked out the door.

Chekov could only watch as they left him there in the hall. He must have been standing there for quite some time because someone came up behind him and slapped him on the back.

"There you are Rolph. I've been waiting for you in my office. Wha'cha doing here?" The black man was dressed sharply in a black suit and had a trim haircut. He watched as Rolph opened his fist and showed him the ring. "Ah. So you've already seen the losers. At least it's over now. You can rest easy with the knowledge that Rafi's been avenged."

Chekov looked at the man who had been a good friend of his for the past 25 years. "Why did you send him to them Brutus? Why didn't you just tell me where he was?"

Brutus Owens shook his head before answering. "Rolph, if you had done it, you would have gotten into trouble-"

"It would have been worth it." Rolph snarled.

"We both know that Rafi wouldn't want you to spend the rest of your life in a prison that doesn't even officially exist. Or be 'accidentally' killed in the line of duty. No. After all those years working to become a handler so that I could finally find that asshole, I had to make sure that it would be done by someone else." Brutus implored with his close friend to make him understand.

"I saw how much he hated Cougar. Cougar is the best sniper the military has."

Rolph nodded. "And we know how much Wolfe hated being second best to anyone."

Brutus nodded his agreement. "Yes. Then I saw how he looked at Jensen and-"

Rolph got angry again. "And he could have seriously hurt that boy. It's by the grace of God that Jensen was only molested and not raped and tortured."

Even before Rolph had half his statement out Brutus was shaking his head in disagreement. "That would never have happened."

Rolph argued, "It almost did."

Brutus insisted. "No man. Trust me. That would never have happened. Cougar would never have allowed it to happen. Trust me man. I see them at the base whenever they come in for an assignment. Cougar is always around Jensen. Barely leaves him alone to take a piss. I knew Wolfe would push Cougar too far and that Cougar would handle him."

"And now Cougar will get in trouble." Rolph scoffed.

"No man. They reported that Wolfe died during the mission. And as Wolfe's handler, I have final say over what becomes official. Trust me. Wolfe died in the mission of obtaining Salvador."

* * *

They were finally home.

Well, some of them anyway. They had all stopped off at Sarah's house first. Clay and Roque always stopped by there after a mission because neither of them really had anywhere else to go in town, other than a motel.

Clay would stay at a motel for the weekend and then fly to his empty house in New Jersey. He had decided years ago to sell it and just get one in New Hampshire so he could be closer to Pooch and Jensen. Just in case a mission came up unexpectedly and time was of the essence, as it so often was. It just hadn't happened yet. Beside Roque still lived not too far from him in New York.

Roque would stay until after the barbeque at Pooch's house tomorrow night and then be on the first flight to New York. He normally just went to Jensen's house to wait for his flight and then flew straight home after a mission. This time though, he wanted to be there, just in case Jensen needed him. So he would be going to the motel with Clay.

Pooch was used to going to Jensen's house after a mission. At first because he liked to be around what he considered his family. And now because Jolene was always there after a mission because she considered them family too.

Jensen and Cougar were just so happy to be home. While their teammates were all tired and ready to crash, with the possible exception of Pooch, they were ready to consummate their relationship. Pooch probably had similar thoughts on his mind for him and Jolene.

As soon as they were in the door all the losers were smothered in hugs and kisses. It was like a funny assembly line as Jolene, Sarah and Analicia all made their way to each man.

* * *

It was two hours later. Pooch and Jolene had gone home and Clay and Roque had left for their motel. Jensen and Cougar were sitting on the loveseat while Sarah was sitting in the oversized chair. Analicia had already been asleep for an hour.

Jensen was laughing. "I still can't forget the look on Roque's face. It was priceless."

They all laughed once again.

"I know." Sarah commented. "I thought he was about to give birth to kittens."

Cougar smiled fondly. It had been a sight.

They had been eating dinner when Analicia had said, 'See Aunt Jolene. I told ya that Uncle Jake was gay for Uncle Cougar.' Roque had been in the process of drinking his shot of whiskey and partly choked while partly spitting it out. His face turned so red you would have thought he was sunburned. He hadn't realized that Analicia knew of such things already. She was only six.

Sarah was busy shaking her head as the laughter died down. "Now do you want to tell me what happened?"

Both men looked at her quizzically.

"Come on guys. I'm a nurse, thanks to my big brother. I can see the fading bruises and the puncture marks on Jake's throat. Those puncture marks aren't typical of your missions. I also see the looks in both your eyes. Now something happened. I know something happened. I felt it. And you've been clinging to each other since you've arrived. I have the feeling you've been doing that for a while since the guys seemed used to it."

She gave them a stern look. "Now I'm grateful that you've finally admitted your feelings for each other, but I want to know what happened. You both seem a bit haunted, Cougar you more than usual, and I don't like it. Not at all!"

Both men nodded, but Cougar was the first to speak. "We were assigned a man who liked Jake too much and that prompted me to tell him how I feel."

Both Jake and Sarah stared at Cougar for a minute before realizing that he was finished, that he was not going to say anything else.

Jake smiled and tightened his hand around Cougar's.

Sarah wasn't having that though. "What do you mean he liked Jake too much? How much? What are the punctures from? And the bruises? Now you listen to me Carlos Juan Hector Alvarez. I want to know what happened and I want to know now."

Even without raising her voice, she didn't want to wake up Analicia, Sarah was a very foreboding woman. Especially when it came to her family.

Jake smiled at his sister. "The man's name was Wolfe. He was a bad man who did bad things for the military. Things no one else would want to do. He hated being second best to Carlos and liked the looks of me. Supposedly. It probably wouldn't have mattered what I looked like. He just wanted to hurt Carlos."

Sarah was trying patiently to wait for Jake's explanation. They were both ramblers. She knew this. This is why she was able to understand how her friends felt talking to her. She had the same experiences they did with her as she did whenever she tried having a conversation with her brother.

"Anyway, he drugged me, abducted me and molested me. But that's it. Cougs stopped him before he could go any further."

Sarah looked back and forth between her brother and the brother of her heart. She saw the pain in Jake's eyes from the memories, but she also saw the happiness in his eyes that he finally had the man he always wanted. But what she saw in Cougar's eyes nearly had her crying buckets. She saw shame and pain and self-hatred. She couldn't let that go on.

Sarah left the oversized chair and knelt in front of Cougar. She knocked Jake's hand from his and took both of his hands into hers. She waited until he looked her in the eyes. "Now you listen to me Carlos Juan Hector Alvarez-"

"Whoa. Full name twice in five minutes. You're gonna get it."

Sarah snapped at her brother. "Jake don't be such a child."

Jake held up his hands in surrender and then zipped and locked his lips and threw the key away.

Sarah tried again. "Now you listen to me Carlos Juan Hector Alvarez. Whatever happened in that jungle was not your fault. Like Jake said, he was determined to hurt you; he would have found a way to do that. No matter what you did to try and prevent him."

Cougar shook his head as silent tears fell from his eyes. "I left Jake unprotected. I knew Wolfe was bad and yet I left Jake unprotected."

Sarah looked at Jake questioningly. That did not sound anything like the Cougar she knew.

Jake unlocked and unzipped his lips. "He had to relieve himself. He hadn't done so in almost twelve hours." Jake whispered to his sister. He didn't want to speak too loudly and ruin the moment she was having with Cougar.

Sarah shook her head. "Carlos, that couldn't be helped. You had to go and relieve yourself. It isn't good to hold it for so long. Did you want to get an infection?" She stared at him as he continued to shed his tears. "And I know that you had to go away from your campsite. I remember Clay yelling at Jensen about attracting curious or aggressive animals by urinating too close to where you had set up camp."

Cougar continued to shake his head. "I should have woken one of the others to stand guard."

Sarah didn't let him go any further. "No. You didn't know what Wolfe would do-"

Cougar growled, "I knew he was evil-"

"You may have known that he was evil, but there was no way you could have possibly known that he would abduct Jake." Sarah was getting exasperated. "I mean come on! That is not a normal response. Only a crazy person would react like that and no one can predict what a crazy person would do. Not you, not Jake. Maybe Roque. But he's already half-crazy to begin with."

Sarah's little half-serious joke worked. It got both of her guys smiling once again, albeit Cougar's was a tiny smirk.

Jake took Cougar's left hand, with his sister's right hand still entwined, into his. "Sarah's right Carlos. No one could have known what he was gonna do. Do you think I would have been sleeping if I had? Do you think any of us would have been sleeping?"

Cougar mumbled, "You were sleeping because you trusted me to look out for you. I failed. What happened was my fault."

Jake's face filled with anger. "You were supposed to be sleeping too. We had recon at 0500 remember? If you had been sleeping-" Jake cut himself off. He didn't want to think that if Cougar had been sleeping then that would mean he would have relieved himself first and then been in bed with Jensen and Wolfe would have never had the chance to do what he did. But Jensen knew that eventually Wolfe would have tried anyway, just to hurt Cougar and that Cougar would still blame himself.

Jake turned Cougar's head so that Cougar was facing him. "It wasn't your fault. It wasn't my fault. The only person at fault was Wolfe. Even if he hadn't done what he did, he would have tried eventually. And I know that I don't want to have to worry about looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives. Do you?"

At Cougar's silence, Jake went on. "Do you truly love me Carlos or were those just words?"

Cougar looked at Jake sharply.

Sarah hid her smile as she understood where her brother was going with that question.

Cougar growled and practically snarled at Jake. "Those are not words that I say easily. I love you Jake."

Jake smiled. "Good. Then that's the only thing that matters. No matter what happens to us, whether we're on our missions or here at home. As long as we still have each other, that's the only thing that matters to me. Everyone has pain in their lives. But not everyone has someone who helps take that pain away and make it nothing but a sad memory. It used to be Sarah who helped me deal with everything-"

Sarah smiled sadly. "Not everything Jake. There are things I know you keep from me so that I won't have to deal with the kind of stuff that you deal with."

Jake nodded. He knew his sister was a tough cookie but there are just some things he doesn't want her exposed to. "Okay fine. It's true. Sarah helps me deal with some stuff. But the stuff that I don't tell her, the stuff I don't want to expose her to. That stuff. You've always helped me with that stuff. Always. Since we first became teammates, even before we were friends. You've always helped me with that. And you didn't have to."

Jake was pensive for a few moments before speaking. "Hmmm. I think that's when I started falling for you. And from there it's snowballed into this burning feeling of love I have for you. I can't bear to live without you and I hate to see you in pain. So please, forgive yourself because it **wasn't your fault**."

Cougar just absorbed everything around him. This home-his home. These people-his family and soon-to-be lover. They were what mattered. What they wanted was important. And what they wanted was for him to forgive himself because they knew he wasn't to blame in the first place. _Mierda. They're right. _

The Jensens could tell when Cougar finally believed that it wasn't his fault. His tears stopped falling and he began to smile. An actual smile and not one of his infamous smirks.

Sarah smiled back. She stood up, removed her hands from Cougar's and Jake's and then stooped to hug them both before they even had a chance to stand up. "Good. Now that that's settled, I'm going to bed. And I have to say that the view from Cougar's room is very beautiful in the morning. Don't forget to put your dog-tags in the nightstand."

Jake and Cougar smiled together at Sarah's hinting that they stay in Cougar's room since it was the farthest from Analicia's. She knew her daughter understood that Cougar and Jake were together, but that didn't mean she wanted her to hear them.

Jensen didn't understand about the nightstand but he figured she just didn't want them to poke each other's eyes out. Although, they had already taken their dog-tags off. _Sisters, sheesh. _

Cougar knew what she was hinting at though. She knew they would be getting together soon and had planned ahead for them. And he was grateful.

They watched Sarah walk up to the second floor before they began checking that all the windows and doors were locked, setting the alarm and turning off all the lights. They then went upstairs themselves.

Jensen and Cougar entered Cougar's room as quietly as they could. Just like the man himself, Cougar's room was pretty stark. It had a bed, a nightstand, and clothes and his lock-box of guns and knives in his closet. Cougar had made sure that Sarah knew the combination in case she ever had a need to use one of his weapons.

As soon as the door was shut they began tearing at each other's clothes. They needed to touch each other's bare flesh; they had waited for so long. Cougar took off his hat, the Hat, and placed it on the nightstand. Jensen ripped Cougar's t-shirt off over his head as Cougar unbuttoned and unzipped Jensen's pants. Jensen shucked off his sneakers and pants as Cougar threw his shirt across the room. Then it was Cougar's turn to rip off Jensen's t-shirt as Jensen helped Cougar out of his jeans.

They both stood in their boxers and stared at each other. They were both so beautiful, even with their scars. The scars just reminded them both of how lucky they were to have each other. In their work, their next mission could be their last. Or they could get hit by a car tomorrow. You just didn't know.

Cougar stamped down his feeling of anger as he looked at Jensen's fading bruises. Cougar laid Jensen down as he crawled up the bed beside him. Jensen watched as Cougar lowered himself and kissed the fading bruises on Jensen's face. Then he moved down to the fading bruises on Jensen's neck. Cougar made sure that he had kissed every one of the bruises on Jensen. He was replacing the bad memories with these fresh happy ones.

Jensen patiently waited for Cougar to finish his task. But once Cougar was done, Jensen grabbed Cougar and hauled him up so that he was straddling Jensen. Then Jensen pulled Cougar's face down to meet his for a hard passionate kiss. Jensen was very demanding, but as the kiss continued, Jensen began to soften as Cougar became the aggressor. He thrust his tongue into Jensen's warm sweet mouth and began exploring. It was very similar to the way he had explored Jensen's mouth in the jungle that day that seemed so long ago.

Once again, Jensen's hands travelled from Cougar's hair, to his shoulders, down his back and finally rested once they had a firm hold on Cougar's ass. He ground himself up into Cougar and groaned. He wrapped his legs around Cougar's waist and started humping himself onto Cougar.

Cougar chuckled deep within his chest and mimicked the act that they would be performing very soon, sans boxers, by thrusting his tongue in and out of Jensen's mouth. Jensen responded by trying to keep Cougar's tongue inside his mouth as he wished that it was another part of Cougar that was held deep inside of him as well.

While Jensen's hands were busy feeling Cougar's taut ass, Cougar busied his own hands by pushing Jensen's boxers down and letting Jensen's stiff penis escape the tight confines. Jensen gasped against Cougar's mouth, allowing Cougar to thrust his tongue in even deeper, as Cougar began stroking Jensen's hot cock.

Cougar's thumb circled the head before gently pumping Jensen as he stroked his hand up and down. Jensen arched his hips up. He was torn. He never wanted the feeling of Cougar stroking him to stop, but he also wanted Cougar inside of him. They could take it slow later. Right now he wanted to be filled by the man he loved.

Jensen tore his mouth away from Cougar's. He gasped until he had enough oxygen to talk once again. "Cougar…need…you." He shuddered as Cougar continued to stroke him. "Please…inside…me…have to…ah…have you…now. Carlos."

Cougar smiled as he slowly shook his head.

Jensen watched as Cougar made his way down the hacker's aroused body. Jensen tensed up as he saw Cougar lower his head. Then Jensen closed his eyes in pure bliss as Cougar took Jensen into his mouth. He swirled his tongue around the head of Jensen's dick. Then he flicked the opening.

Jensen gasped in exquisite delight. Every nerve in his body could feel it as Cougar pulled back to blow upon Jensen's head. Then he retook Jensen in his mouth. Cougar used his tongue to massage Jensen's dick as he took him deeply into his throat. Then Cougar released Jensen so that just the head of his dick remained in Cougar's mouth.

Cougar could see that Jensen had his eyes tightly shut as he enjoyed the pleasure that the sniper was providing him. While Jensen was enjoying the sensation of Cougar's mouth on his dick, Cougar reached into the nightstand and removed the lube that Sarah had thought to pick up for them. He opened up the bottle and squirted some on his hand. He let it warm for a few seconds. Just as he was about to lather it on Jensen's ass, Cougar took him deeply into his throat once more.

When Jensen felt the warm lube touch his ass, he pushed himself even further into Cougar's mouth. As Cougar lathered his hand with lube once again, he pushed a finger up inside of Jensen.

Jensen moaned as he felt Cougar's finger moving inside of him. Cougar continued to allow Jensen to fuck his mouth as Cougar added another finger to Jensen's ass. He made a scissoring motion as he continued to prepare Jensen's ass for his dick.

Jensen was getting so close. He wanted to hold back, to wait for Cougar, but he couldn't help it. As he felt a third finger of Cougar's inside of him, hitting his prostate, he felt his balls tighten and ready themselves to empty inside of Cougar's warm, magical mouth.

Jensen tried to warn Cougar. "Car…Carlos…I'm gonna…oh so close. I'm gonna…Carlos."

_That's it amor. Cum inside me. I need to taste you._ Cougar started thrusting his fingers even faster and harder inside of Jensen. He clamped his lips firmly around Jensen's dick as he used his other hand, the one not busy inside Jensen's body, to pump Jensen.

Jensen groaned deeply as he came inside of Cougar's willing mouth. He opened his eyes and saw Cougar swallow all of what Jensen had given him without lifting his mouth from Jensen's dick.

Cougar smiled at Jensen as he slowly crawled back up Jensen's body.

Jensen grabbed Cougar's hair and dragged him down for a kiss. Jensen could still taste himself on Cougar's tongue. "Oh, Carlos. I need you inside me. Now!"

Cougar smiled and winked at Jensen. "As you wish."

Before Jensen could even blink, Cougar had thrust himself inside of Jensen. He went slowly, so as to not hurt Jensen. As soon as he was in to the hilt, Cougar stopped and waited for Jensen to adjust.

He didn't have to wait long. His fingers had prepared Jensen so well and the man beneath him wanted him so badly that Jensen began thrusting himself against Cougar in less than a minute. Cougar grabbed Jensen's legs and wrapped them around his waist. At the new angle, Cougar could feel himself enter Jensen a little bit deeper.

And then they were both thrusting back and forth. Cougar kept up a steady pace as his dick kept going in and out and in and out. Each time he stroked Jensen's prostrate once again.

Jensen met Cougar thrust for thrust. He was hard yet again; had been since Cougar entered him with his dick. But this time Jensen wanted to cum with Cougar. Or after Cougar, not before.

Cougar had other plans. Being inside of Jensen felt so good. So warm and tight. So right. But he wanted to get Jensen to climax first. He wanted to feel Jensen's cum splash against their stomachs before he would let himself find release.

Jensen was fast approaching that point. He was trying so hard to hold himself back. But every thrust of Cougar inside of Jensen pushed him closer to the edge. Especially when Cougar began stroking Jensen yet again. And when Cougar bit down on Jensen's nipple, it threw Jensen over the edge. "Fuck Carlos!"

Once again, Jensen came. Just as Cougar had wanted, all over their stomachs. He smiled as he looked down at them covered in Jensen's seed.

Jensen saw this and smiled as he started contracting his ass muscles hard around Cougar's cock. Cougar gasped and growled, "Fuck Jake," as he released his own seed while he was planted deep inside of Jensen's ass.

Cougar collapsed on Jensen in pure bliss. Jensen wrapped his arms tightly around Cougar. Neither one of them were bothered enough with the stickiness of Jensen's cum to want to move.

After a few minutes, Cougar got a warm washcloth and wiped the cum from both of them. He threw it into the sink and got back on the bed. He smiled at Jensen. "Amor, whenever you are up to it, I feel the need to have you inside of me."

Jensen smiled at Cougar. "Sure thing Cougs. But first, I wanna taste you."

TBC in Epilogue2. (Sadly though, it's not directly after this scene. Don't want anyone to get their hopes up.)


	11. Epilogue2 Death and Home

Thank you, **Castiel's drycleaner,** for your support and for being an awesome Beta.

And thank you to my reviewers of Epilogue1: gottalovealoser, HellzCrusader, Thornangel, Deth Faenim, sivanshemesh3, Ectofralamazoo, lelann37, LaylaBinx and Hidden Relevance. I love reading what you think about my story.

Here's the last, and the longest, chapter for ya. It is unbeta'd because my beta is really busy with life and I'd just like to finish this story once and for all.

This chapter is very long and deals with their return to their family after Bolivia. I've changed it since first writing it and almost decided to list it as a different story altogether (as a one shot) but since I wrote it originally for this story I am adding it here as I had first intended.

To gottalovealoser: Should be just a few more days.

Speaking of gottalovealoser, check out her awesome Loser fic: Hell hath no fury, check out Alex Kade's Loser fic: Fear of the Unknown, check out Andrix's Loser series of drabbles: JensenxCougar Alphabet Fic(warning may be tears and has a lead in to In Memorandum) and check out Snarkcasm's Loser fic: Surrender, Surrender. And for an awesome cross-over fic check out the Loser/Push fic Move It or Lose It by Hidden Relevance. WARNING: You may become addicted.

Jensen's Petunia

(aka JP)

* * *

**TWO YEARS LATER**

It had been five months, five very long months, since receiving the news that their family had been killed in a helicopter crash after knowingly causing the deaths of 25 little children while attacking a Bolivian citizen.

Sarah Jensen had not believed the bullshit story that the Losers had gone rogue for even one second. Neither had her best friend Jolene Porteous. First, their guys could never knowingly cause the deaths of 25 children. No way in hell. Second, their guys had been sent there on a mission. An un-official mission of course, but a mission none-the-less.

Sarah even had doubts that the men were dead. All her life she had been able to feel it when her brother was hurt. She felt it a lot when she was very little. After their bastard of a dad died she didn't feel it as much. When Jake joined the military she would feel it if he was hurt on a mission. She even remembered feeling it when Wolfe attacked and molested Jake.

When the men supposedly died in Bolivia, Sarah didn't feel anything. Nothing to indicate that her brother had been hurt, much less killed. And during these past five months of hell, every once in a while she would get the same kinds of feelings that she used to that indicated her brother had been hurt. As a matter of fact, just a few days ago the upper part of Sarah's left arm started paining her. It was the same kind of feeling that Sarah got whenever Jake had been shot.

She wasn't the only one who had her doubts about the men being dead. Jolene was sure that Pooch was alive. Why else would his wedding ring have been missing? Whenever Pooch went on a mission, he took his wedding ring off of his finger and placed it on the chain with his dog tags. That way he would always be sure that if anything happened to him, Jolene would still get his ring back.

Unfortunately, they couldn't speak of it when Analicia was around. Even though they both believed that the men were alive, they didn't want Ana to get her hopes up if it turned out that the men really had died. Neither one of them could watch Ana go through that kind of pain again.

For the first month Ana didn't do anything. She barely ate or spoke. She wouldn't be able to fall asleep unless she was curled up against either her mother or her aunt. She had terrible nightmares every night and woke up screaming and crying.

The second month Ana was a little better, not much. She began playing with some of her toys again. She started eating again but only spoke when spoken to. She still needed either her mother or her aunt to sit with her until she fell asleep. She still had nightmares every night.

The third month was better. Soccer season began. Ana was behaving almost normally, eating like she normally did and was speaking again. Not like she used to, the way her Uncle Jake spoke, in fits of concise thoughts along with random thoughts and words. But hey, Sarah was just happy to have her show some of the spirit she had before her 'uncles' had died. Unfortunately Ana still had nightmares but not every night and she could go to sleep without one of them being there with her.

The fourth month was great. Soccer was still underway. Sarah was extremely grateful that Ana had her soccer team. They supported Ana no matter what anyone else said about her uncles. They even told Ana that they played in honor of her Uncle Jake and her Uncle Cougar. That might explain why they were having the best season ever. Most of Ana's soccer team had a crush on her Uncle Cougar. They didn't understand as Ana did that he wasn't a 'lady's man'. But at least the team had Ana talking about Jake and Cougar without her crying.

Now it's been five months. Sarah was a little worried. Soccer season was just about over, playoffs happening this weekend, and she was afraid that Ana would revert back to how she was before soccer. Sarah would do anything to prevent that from happening. Ana's been doing so much better. She was even back to speaking just like Uncle Jake. She still had nightmares but Sarah knew from her experiences with Cougar that those could last for the rest of Ana's life.

Sarah turned away from the window that she had been staring out of just in time to catch her daughter in her arms.

"Ana, honey, you can't leap at Mommy like that sweetie. You would get hurt if I couldn't catch you in time." Sarah hugged her daughter to her and then put her back down on the floor. For an eight year old girl, Ana was still a bit small for her age.

"Don't be silly Mommy." Ana gave her mother an incredulous look. "You always catch me."

Sarah smiled at her daughter's words. She would always try to be there for her daughter, no matter what. "Are you ready to go see Aunt Jolene and your new baby cousin?"

"Yeah!"

It was Friday afternoon. Sarah and Analicia had just arrived home from picking Jolene and baby Columbus up from the hospital. Jolene had asked to come to Sarah's home instead of going to her home so that they could talk first. Despite the fact that Jolene was clearly worn out, she had seemed so excited at the possibility of going to Sarah's house that Sarah never even questioned why.

Sarah couldn't believe the change that had come over Jolene since the baby had been born. For the past couple of weeks Jolene had been very depressed that Pooch wasn't going to be there to witness the birth of their child. Sarah had promised Jolene that she would be there for her and Sarah was so mad at herself when she wasn't able to be. When Jolene went into labor Wednesday night Sarah was trapped clear across town because of a terrible accident. It was so bad that Sarah ending up offering to help with the injured until the ambulances could arrive.

Since Columbus' birth, Jolene had become extremely happy. But it seemed to Sarah that something else was adding to the euphoria of the birth of Jolene's and Pooch's child. She just wasn't sure what. When Sarah tried asking what had Jolene so happy, Jolene only smiled and said that she couldn't wait until Ana's soccer game tomorrow.

They had barely been home for ten minutes when Sarah heard a creak come from the front porch. She looked to Jolene to see if Jolene had heard it too. Jolene had a huge smile on her face as she stared out the window across the room. She clearly didn't hear anything out of the ordinary.

Sarah heard another noise then and turned to look at the door. It sounded like something, or someone, was scraping at the keyhole. Both Sarah and Jolene got up off the couch when the handle of the front door started to jiggle. It sounded as if a key had slid into the slot.

"Who do you think it is?" Sarah looked to Jolene once again. "The only one with a spare key is you."

Jolene attempted a thoughtful face. "I'm not the only one with a spare key."

Sarah couldn't believe it. She knew and trusted Jolene too well for what Jolene was implying. "Who did you give a copy of my key to?"

Jolene looked at Sarah in surprise as the key unlocked the bottom lock and moved to the dead bolt. She didn't realize that Sarah would think that. "Not me silly, you. You gave copies to two other people. Remember?"

Sarah looked at Jolene in shock as the front door opened to reveal the very two people they had just been speaking of. There, at the door, stood a very alive looking Jensen and Cougar. Not just them either. Behind them stood Pooch, Clay and a very pretty woman that Sarah didn't know.

After two seconds of shocked silence Sarah threw herself into her brother's arms. She clung to him as if afraid that he would vanish if she let go. Sarah avoided touching his upper left arm just in case it was still hurting him. Tears ran down her face as she kissed Jensen on his cheek before burying her head against his chest. "I knew you weren't dead. I knew it. I still had those feelings. I knew they couldn't be wrong. I just knew it."

Jensen chuckled softly as he hugged his sister tightly. When the Losers had first agreed to be 'dead', they had decided not to contact their families so that their families would be safe. Jensen knew that even if he didn't contact his sister she'd know he was alive anyway. He just thought it would be because she didn't believe the military's bullshit story. "So you knew I wasn't dead because you kept feeling my pain? That sucks."

Sarah hit her brother upside the head before moving to embrace Cougar in a bear hug.

Jensen, confusion written all over his face, looked to see his sister dangling in Cougar's arms as she kissed his cheek. Cougar may not have been the tallest man at five foot ten inches, but he was certainly taller than Sarah's five foot four. "What was that for?"

Cougar placed Sarah back on the floor but did not release her as she answered, "That was for not telling me you were alive."

"We didn't tell you to keep you safe. Anyone could have intercepted if we had tried to contact you." Jensen looked at his sister with a look that clearly said she should have figured that out for herself.

Cougar released Sarah after placing a kiss on her forehead.

Sarah moved towards Pooch. "Puh-lease Jensen! We all know that you of all people could have found some way to contact us without being intercepted."

Jolene moved away from her husband so that her best friend and sister could have a proper reunion with him. After all, Sarah had lost him too.

Pooch laughed at the look that came over his friend's face as he accepted his kiss from Sarah. "She's got you there J-man." He felt as if Sarah were trying to squeeze the life out of him with her hug.

Clay stepped in to take some of the heat off of Jensen. "He couldn't Sarah. I ordered him not too. It was just too risky."

Sarah released Pooch so that she could move to Clay. Pooch's arms weren't empty for long though because as soon as Sarah moved Jolene was there. It felt so good having her back in his arms. He knew that it would be quite some time before the urge to hold her and never let go left him because of all the months of not being with her.

Sarah looked up at Clay with an unreadable look on her face. The others watched and waited for what she would do next. Sarah took a step closer…and then launched herself at him. He caught her in mid-air. She enveloped him in a bear hug as she kissed his cheek just like she had done the others.

As soon as Sarah had taken that last step before the lunge, Cougar had reached out to grab Aisha's arm. He knew that she wouldn't understand at first that Sarah wasn't actually attacking Clay and that Aisha's first instinct would be to defend. They'd only been 'partners' for a few days but Cougar was starting to understand her way of thinking. She wouldn't defend Clay because of a care for him, but because she thought that Sarah might attack her after Clay.

Sarah took a quick step back as soon as Clay released her so that she could look directly into his eyes. "I forgive you for giving my brother such a stupid order Franklin."

"Uh-oh, someone's in trouble." Jensen remarked in a sing-song voice. "She used your first name."

Clay gave Jensen a look that clearly said shut-up. Jensen did shut up. But not because he was afraid that Clay would tell Sarah that there was never actually an official order that Jensen not contact her, just an agreement amongst themselves. No, Jensen shut his mouth because Sarah had turned to Aisha.

Sarah saw Cougar grab the woman's arm from the corner of her eye when she launched herself at Clay. After Clay released Sarah and she turned to look at the woman Sarah noticed that Cougar no longer held the woman. _Interesting._

Aisha looked at the woman who was Jensen's sister. She was much smaller than Jensen's six feet but she looked like she could definitely handle herself. _She'd have to with these guys._

Clay made the introductions. "Sarah this is Aisha. She's working with us now. Aisha this is Sarah, Jensen's little sister."

Sarah made a face at Clay as he said the word 'little'. The Losers always used that word to tease her. They never said it because she was younger than Jensen but because she was so petite.

"So you're a Loser now?" Sarah watched Aisha intently, waiting for her answer.

Aisha stared intently at Sarah as well. She nodded slightly. "Yes, for now, I am a Loser."

For a tense five seconds there was silence. Then Sarah nodded back and smiled. "That's good enough for me." Sarah launched herself at Aisha and hugged her as well. _I wonder why she's here and Roque isn't._

Aisha, unsure of how to react, stood frozen for the duration of the hug. Her first instinct, to fight, would not go over well with her companions-for-the-time-being.

Sarah leaned into Aisha and whispered into her ear so that only Aisha would hear, "For now. If you ever do anything to hurt any of these men, I will hunt you down, skin you alive and roast you over the fire pit in my back yard. You got me?"

Sarah still had the same smile on her face as she moved back from Aisha. She watched the mocha-skinned woman intently waiting for her answer.

Aisha bit back the smile that she felt rise up. She may have confusing feelings for Clay, she may or may not be starting to like the other men of Clay's former unit, but she knew for a fact that she definitely liked Jensen's sister. They may have been raised in different worlds, but Aisha could tell that Sarah had a code of conduct that was similar to her own. _When it comes to family that is._ She also had the makings of a seriously dangerous adversary. If they didn't end up killing each other, they could become…friends. _No wonder Jensen is always in awe of what he calls bad ass chicks. He raised one._

A slight incline of Aisha's head was enough for Sarah to know that the woman understood her. She turned to her brother but before she could say what she wanted to tell him, the woman distracted her with a question.

"Have you been wearing them ever since you were told?"

All the men looked at Aisha in confusion. They didn't know what she could have been talking about. All they could see on Sarah were her normal clothes. She wasn't wearing anything out of the ordinary.

Jolene smiled at their confused faces.

"Wearing what? What's she wearing? She's wearing clothes. Just like she always does. We're not nudists." Jensen kept looking his sister up and down in the hopes that he would notice what Aisha was talking about.

Aisha didn't stop looking at Sarah as she remarked on Jensen's comment. "You sure about that Jensen? You seem to like to hack in your underwear." Aisha had the unfortunate experience late last night of walking into the dining room at Pooch's house to find Jensen, in his boxers, hunched over his computer. She had been on her way to the kitchen for a drink when she became distracted by the sight of Jensen's boxers. "In your pretty pink boxers with the white bears holding the red hearts all over them."

Jensen looked affronted. "Hey those were a gift from a very important person thank you very much."

Pooch and Clay laughed at the look on Jensen's face and the thought of those boxers. Cougar smiled as he remembered the moment when he got Jensen out of the boxers that their niece had given Jensen for their anniversary. Ana had given Cougar some of his favorite, but expensive, gun oil.

Jolene smiled and lightly elbowed her husband in the ribs. Pooch looked down at his wife with questioning eyes. She nodded her head in Sarah's direction and then looked down at her own chest.

Pooch followed Jolene's nod towards Sarah. Sarah had a pensive, yet sad, look on her face as she seemed to listen to the others tease Jensen about his boxers. But Pooch couldn't be sure if she really heard any of what was being said because she didn't look away from Aisha, just like Aisha didn't look away from her. It was somewhat intense the way they were staring at each other. Then Pooch remembered Aisha's question and looked back to his wife.

Jolene once again looked down at her chest. She looked back up to see her husband looking at her chest inquiringly. She saw a few moments of confusion before the look of understanding dawned on his face.

Pooch's softly said "Oh," brought Clay's, Jensen's and Cougar's eyes all on him. He smiled at them as he elaborated upon what Aisha was asking. "Aisha wants to know if Sarah's been wearing the dog tags ever since she was told we were dead."

All eyes snapped back to Sarah. She still hadn't moved but they could see tears once again streaking down her face. "Yes. I've worn them ever since receiving them from the military."

Aisha nodded at the expected answer.

Jensen was still looking at Sarah in confusion. He saw her reach beneath her neckline and take out the dog tags. He then turned towards Aisha. "How'd you know she was wearing them? You couldn't see them or the chain and I couldn't even feel them when I hugged her." He looked around at the others. "Did you feel them?"

Cougar, Pooch and Clay all shook their heads confirming that they had not felt them either.

Aisha smiled slightly at Jensen. "You weren't really noticing the dog tags because you were too wrapped up in finally seeing your sister again."

Jensen still looked slightly confused. "Yeah but you didn't even hug her that closely and you knew they were there."

Aisha looked to Jensen and nodded. "Yes, when Sarah moved in to…ah…welcome me, I felt the ball chain against my shoulder." Aisha looked once again at Sarah. "Besides, I had already expected your sister to be wearing your dog tags. It's what a military sister would do. Isn't that right?"

Jolene spoke then. "Yes, it's what a military sister and niece do. It's also what a military wife does."

It was Aisha's turn to look confused. "The military gives two tags, which Sarah is wearing. Whose is Sarah's daughter wearing?"

Sarah smiled. "Oh, she's wearing the same ones I am." She walked closer to Aisha and raised the dog tags so that the woman could read them.

Aisha took the offered dog tags in her hands. Being careful not to pull too much so that she wouldn't choke Sarah, Aisha raised the dog tags and read them out loud. "Jensen, Jake and Alvarez, Carlos."

Aisha looked towards Cougar. "Your real name is Carlos."

The sniper nodded slightly.

Aisha frowned and shook her head. "No, Cougar fits you better." She then looked towards Jensen. "I didn't realize that when you said you were a family that you meant literally."

Aisha released the dog tags as she looked back at Sarah with a new respect. "It must have been very hard for you when you were told that both your husband and brother had died."

Everyone looked at Aisha in shock.

Cougar was the first to recover with his signature smirk but Sarah was the first to speak. "Cougar's not my husband." Jensen shook his head in agreement. "He's my brother-in-law."

Now it was Aisha's turn to be shocked. She looked back and forth between the sniper and the hacker. She knew they were close but thought it was because that's what happens when you're in a unit together for so long. She never had any indication since meeting them a couple weeks ago that they were involved with each other. When Jolene had said military wife, Aisha assumed she was speaking for Sarah but then realized that Jolene still wore Pooch's dog tags as well. "You two are…"

Cougar finished for her, "together."

Jensen nodded as if still in a daze. "We weren't sure if we could trust you when we first met you so we didn't offer any information that wasn't critical to the mission."

Aisha nodded. "And now you trust me?"

Jensen hesitated before answering. "I trust you enough to introduce you to my family." Then he shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, you already knew about them anyway. So why not?"

Aisha nodded again. "Where is your niece?" She looked around the room. "And where's Columbus?"

"Columbus is sleeping in his crib upstairs and Ana wanted to be the one to watch over him." Jolene told them as she took a seat on the couch. She just gave birth two days ago. She needed to sit down.

Aisha raised an eyebrow. "He has a crib upstairs?"

Jolene nodded as Sarah took a seat next to her and answered Aisha. "Yes he does. With them…gone, we wanted to be closer to each other just in case something happened so there is a room upstairs for Jolene and Columbus." The Losers all joined Jolene and Sarah in the sitting area. "Just like there is a room at her house that I share with Ana."

Pooch nodded. "Yeah, that's the room Jensen and Cougar slept in last night. We didn't give it to you because we couldn't risk anything being broken. You know, since it's not our stuff."

Jolene giggled slightly as Sarah looked first at Pooch and then at Aisha. When she saw Aisha throw a guilty look at Clay she smiled. _Ah. So she is volatile. I thought so. Just like Clay's other women._

Sarah was just about to rescue the woman when she heard footsteps coming down the upstairs hallway.

All heads turned expectantly towards the stairs. As the feet made their way quietly down the stairs, Jensen resumed his standing position.

They all watched as a beautiful little girl of eight years stopped short at the sight before her. To everyone's horror, Ana fell to her knees and began sobbing. Jensen was the first to reach Ana but everyone, even Aisha, circled around her in concern.

"Ana…honey, why are you crying?" Jensen had fallen upon his knees in front of Ana and could see that these were not tears of happiness. There was such pain and fear in Ana's tear-filled eyes that it hurt Jensen to look at them. He fought the urge to wrap her in his arms. Touching her before she was ready could have catastrophic repercussions.

Ana's body trembled as she continued sobbing. "I just wanna wake up." She wrapped her arms around herself. "I hate this dream. I just wanna wake up."

Sarah gasped as she wrapped her daughter in her arms. "Oh Analicia, honey, I'm so sorry. With everything that's happened today I didn't even realize."

Ana burrowed deep into her mother's arms. Her eyes peeping from under her mother's chin as she looked again at the people before her.

Cougar raised an eyebrow at what had just transpired between mother and daughter. There was something that had not been said and he was troubled by the feeling that he knew what.

Jensen couldn't stand not knowing what was wrong with his precious niece. Calmly, so as not to startle Ana, Jensen begged his sister to explain. "Please Sarah, what's wrong? I don't understand why she's crying like this. If they were tears of happiness that would make sense, but these…what is going on?"

Sarah rubbed her daughter's back softly as she slowly rocked Ana in her arms. "Ever since…"

"Bolivia." Aisha supplied for her.

Sarah nodded her thanks to Aisha. "Ever since Bolivia, Ana's been having nightmares. Terrible, horrible nightmares where she," Sarah lowered her voice even though Ana was right there in her arms, "dreams that you are all still alive; that your deaths were a mistake and that you come home to us. We're all sitting in the living room talking when, one by one, all of us D-I-E right in front of her eyes."

Ana's sobs quieted. "Mommy," she began with a slight hint of an attitude. "I know how to spell die. I am eight years old. Sheesh." She looked up into her mother's eyes. "Why won't they stop? I just want the nightmares to stop. They always feel so real." Ana lowered her head onto her mother's shoulder as she whispered, "No es de extrañar que tío Cougar odia a dormir." (You will find out what this means, I promise, but I'm not putting it here like I usually do because it's a mystery that bugs Pooch until the end of this story. And I thought it'd be a really great last line. So please, be patient.)

Cougar raised an eyebrow at that.

Ana had Cougar teach her Spanish so that they could speak in a language that the others wouldn't understand. She wanted something that was just for her and her Uncle Cougar.

Pooch nudged Cougar. "What did she just say?"

Before Cougar could answer Pooch, Sarah held her daughter out in front of her so that Ana could clearly see what she was about to say. "Ana, baby. Listen to me. This is not a nightmare. Trust me honey. They're here. They **are** alive and they're really here."

Ana had started shaking her head as soon as Sarah had said that it wasn't a nightmare. "You always say that Mommy." More sobs. "Then you're burning."

Clay sucked in a sharp breath at that. _Shit. Of course she'd see that in her nightmares. We were supposed to die in the chopper crash._

No one knew what to say to make Ana believe that they were really here and that she wasn't in the middle of another nightmare. No one except…

Aisha moved to kneel before Ana. She spoke softly to the distressed little girl. "Ana." Aisha waited until Ana looked at her. "You've never seen me in your nightmares before, right?"

Ana studied the woman who was, in fact, a stranger to her. "No, I've never seen you before."

Aisha nodded. "That's right. So why would I be in your nightmare?"

Ana considered what the woman said. She made some sense. Plus…

"Where's Uncle Roque? He's usually here too. But he isn't." Ana pulled away from her mother and looked all around the room, just in case she had somehow missed the tall, dark man.

Miraculously Clay, Pooch, Cougar and Jensen were able to hide their anger and betrayal from Ana at the mention of her 'missing Uncle'.

They weren't able to hide it from Sarah and Jolene though. Both women knew something bad must have gone down, but they weren't going to mention it out of respect for the remaining men of their family. But after seeing those not-quite-hidden looks, they both knew that the unstable Roque had finally crossed the line.

Jensen reached for his niece. He let out the breath that he didn't realize he was holding when she went willingly into his arms. He squeezed her tightly to his chest. "Oh baby. Uncle," Jensen had a hard time not swallowing his own tongue for the name he was about to utter, "Roque is dead."

Ana looked into her Uncle's eyes and saw such pain there that all she did was nod. Until she realized that she was really in her Uncle's arms and that he was alive and not going anywhere. Then she starting crying even harder as she smiled so big and bright it was as if the sun came into the house. The men were becoming anxious once again until Ana squealed in delight and threw herself back into Jensen's arms.

"Uncle Jake!" Ana laughed as she launched into one of her patented just-like-Uncle-Jake rambling speeches. "It's you. You're here. They lied. Mommy knew it. She didn't know that I could hear her and Aunt Jolene but I did."

Sarah and Jolene looked at each other in surprise. They had always tried to be so quiet so as not to raise her hopes up.

"She said that you were alive. You had to be alive. She still felt it every time you got hurt."

Sarah reached over and unconsciously rubbed her upper left arm. A move that did not go unnoticed by the Losers.

Aisha stilled as she realized what the others had been talking about earlier. She had been a little lost when Sarah explained how she knew Jensen was alive, though she loathed admitting it. But now, as Aisha watched Sarah rub her arm in exactly the same place where Aisha shot Jensen, it all made sense. _Shit. This could turn into a problem later. _

"And you always get hurt every other day. Uncle Clay always says that. He says it's a miracle you've lasted this long because you attract danger like a magnet. You're a danger magnet."

Clay smiled and withheld his chuckle. He did always say that.

"And Aunt Jolene knew Uncle Pooch couldn't be dead because she didn't get his ring back. She said he had to be alive. Otherwise she'd have the ring."

Jolene nodded in agreement, though no one was looking at her. Everyone was too busy watching Ana have what they affectionately termed her 'Jensen Fit'.

"It wouldn't have melted in the chopper fire. So where was it?"

Then they could see the sadness come over Ana yet again. "But you didn't come home. And you didn't call us or try to tell us that you were still alive. Why didn't you tell us Uncle Jake?"

Sarah looked sharply at Clay who lowered his eyes to the floor. A fact that did not go unnoticed by Aisha.

Jensen fought to keep his emotions in check. "We couldn't Ana-bug. It wasn't safe. We couldn't risk putting you in danger."

Aisha leaned closer to Clay. "Ana-bug?" she whispered.

Clay nodded and whispered back. "Jensen calls Cougar: Cougar Cat, Cougar calls Jensen: Jensen Bunny-don't ask," Clay could see the question forming in Aisha's eyes, "so Ana wanted a special nickname too. She loved ladybugs when she was younger and the name just stuck."

Ana looked at all of her Uncles. "But we needed you. And you weren't here. Everyone was so mean and said not-nice things about you and I wanted you home but you weren't here."

The men all looked at Ana uncomfortably. They knew she was a smart little girl, but they also knew that she was still too young to fully understand why they couldn't tell them and be here for them.

Ana pointed from one man to the next as she spoke to each of them.

"Uncle Jake, you weren't here to cheer me on at soccer like always. You weren't here to play Pin the Hair on Uncle Pooch with me."

Pooch shot Jensen a sharp look as Jensen looked away from him sheepishly. Pooch had fallen asleep on the couch one day when Jensen had decided that Pooch needed some hair. So Jensen made up a game that he could play with Ana. They would take colored cotton balls and put some non-toxic, but not meant for skin, glue on them and then stick them all over Pooch's head. Pooch was so deeply asleep that he hadn't felt a thing. When he woke up and walked into the den where he could hear talking, everyone burst out laughing at Pooch's new rainbow colored afro. It took an hour to get off every trace of glue and he had a rash on his scalp for a week.

Ana whipped her hand around to point at Cougar. "Y tío Cougar. Aquí no eras para nuestras oraciones nocturnas e historias de la hora de acostarse. Siempre hicimos aquellos juntos si no tienes una misión." Her voice trembled as she whispered, "No he podido oír hablar de cómo el puma valiente siempre tuvo que salvar a la conejita tonta de sí mismo.

(And you Uncle Cougar. You weren't here for our nightly prayers and bedtime stories. We always did those together if you didn't have a mission. I missed hearing about how the brave cougar always had to save the silly bunny from himself.)

Ana shook her head sadly as she pointed at Pooch. "You weren't here to see Aunt Jolene get big with Columbus."

Jolene didn't even scowl as she usually did when someone mentioned how huge she was when she was pregnant. She just pulled Ana against her side as Ana finished with Pooch.

"You didn't get to feel him moving around. You didn't get to hear the heartbeat when we took Aunt Jolene to her doctor appointments." Ana gasped as she just thought of something. "Did you even miss Columbus being born?"

Pooch knelt down in front of his wife and took his niece into his arms. As they hugged he answered her. "No sweetheart. I didn't miss it. I was there." He held Ana tightly against him. "We decided that we couldn't live without seeing you guys in person again. We'll just have to be extremely careful so that everyone stays safe.

"Well, at least that's something. You got to see Columbus being born. I missed it." Ana smiled brightly as she said, "But don't worry, I won't miss seeing your next one Uncle Pooch."

That got a few laughs from everyone, even Aisha as she saw the look on Pooch's face.

Then Ana became quiet again. "Uncle Pooch, why'd you say it like that?"

Pooch looked at Ana quizzically. "Say what how honey?"

"Why did you say that you guys decided that you couldn't live without seeing us in person again? You saw us? When? How?" Ana needed to know that they had still thought about them. She knew that they would have, but she wanted to hear him say it again.

Pooch smiled at Ana. "Uncle Jake would hack into the satellites so that we could see you." Pooch rubbed her cheek with the pad of his thumb as he told Ana, Sarah and Jolene of how they thought of them often. "We would watch your Mommy working in the hospital through the security cameras. We would watch Aunt Jolene go grocery shopping. I loved to watch her in the food store because I always got to see her for a while since shopping for food always seems to take so long. And we would watch your soccer games. Uncle Jake would even reroute a satellite if there wasn't one in position."

Clay grunted at that. He told them time and time again that rerouting a satellite was a dangerously stupid mistake. Someone could have tracked where the satellite was moved to and what it was focused on. But they didn't listen. And Jensen was very thorough at erasing his tracks. So Clay gave up fighting them and joined them as they watched Sarah, Jolene and Ana.

At Clay's grunt, Ana swiveled around to look at him. She looked back at Pooch. "I'm glad you didn't stop thinking about us."

"Never." Jensen, Cougar, Pooch and Clay firmly stated in unison.

"Good." Ana turned back to her Uncle Clay and pointed her tense little finger at him. "And you. Uncle Clay. You weren't here for our treasure hunts and our piggy back rides. I missed holding your hand as we hunted in the back yard for buried treasure. And I missed our piggy back ride celebration we had when we would find the toys that Mommy and Uncle Cougar hid."

Ana lowered her hand and looked at each man once again. "I missed all of you so much. It hurt to think of you. I couldn't without crying. I wanted you. I wanted you here with me. You said you'd come back. You promised you'd come home. But you didn't."

Tears were yet again streaming down Ana's cheeks. "I felt terrible when I couldn't stand to talk about you. I felt horrible when I didn't want to remember you because it hurt too much. I didn't want to do anything that brought back memories of you. And that was hard because everything reminded me of you. I didn't want to do anything."

Ana looked up at her mother. "But Mommy made me play soccer again when the season started. And I saw Kylee and Rosalie and Veronica and all the other girls again. They helped me. They helped me talk about you again. And it was nice. They helped to make the memories happy and not sad. And they said we were playing in honor of you. That we had to do our best because you were watching from heaven."

Jensen smiled as he thought that they had indeed been watching her from heaven. Via satellite.

Ana's look turned very serious. "And you were in heaven too. Not hell like that bully Drago Vosku said."

The adults all had harsh looks on their faces at that statement.

"He pushed me down and said that my uncles were nothing but a bunch of child murderers. But Rosalie yelled at him to stop saying such mean lies or she'd tell his Mama. Then he said that she's the one who said it first."

Rage flashed across Sarah's face as she muttered under her breath. "I swear, the next time I see that woman I'm gonna gut her like a fish."

Aisha, who had been standing close enough to Sarah to hear her, smiled at the ferociousness of Jensen's little sister. _Yes, if we don't kill each other, we could definitely become friends._

Jensen took Ana's hands in his. He looked at her worriedly. "You know that's not true, don't you Ana? You know we'd never hurt a child."

Ana, doing a move she learned from her mother, smacked her Uncle upside his head. "Of course I know that Uncle Jake. I'm not stupid. It just hurt to hear it."

Clay stole Ana out of Jensen's reach as he picked her up and held her in his arms. "Of course you knew that Ana. And we promise you, that even though we still have to go away on missions-"

"To find the bad man who tried to hurt you?" Ana interrupted.

"Exactly. Even though we still have to go away on missions to find the bad man, we will come back and see you. Just like before."

Ana held up her hand. "Pinky swear?"

Clay wrapped his pinky around hers. "Pinky swear. Now how about we go out back and practice for your soccer game tomorrow? Remember tomorrow's game is for the championship that you're playing in our honor. We need to win."

Ana's voice was full of hope as she asked, "You're coming?"

Jensen answered for Clay. "You bet we are. We'll be in the stands cheering our a-"

"Jensen!" Sarah said warningly.

Clay and Ana laughed at Jensen as Clay carried her out the back door. Jensen followed along eager for the chance to run around with his niece. He'd missed being able to hold her and play with her so much.

A cry was heard coming through the baby monitor signaling that Columbus had woken up from his nap. It was probably due to the booming laugh of Clay's just a moment ago. Sarah and Jolene automatically headed for the stairs. Both looked back and spoke at the same time.

Jolene spoke to her husband, "Are you coming upstairs to see your son?"

Sarah spoke to Aisha, "Would you like to see him?"

Aisha replied first. "Sure. That would be…nice." She walked forward to follow the other women. No matter what, Aisha was not going to fall for these children. She couldn't let her heart soften. She had to stay strong. _I can't care about these people. I can't care about these people. _

Aisha kept repeating that chant in her head as she followed Sarah up the stairs. As long as she kept repeating it, it would work. _Right?_

Pooch smiled up at his wife. "Yes, baby. I just need to ask Cougar something first and then I'll be right up."

Cougar had been on his way out the back door. He had yet to hold Ana in his arms. Everyone else had their chance to touch her, even Aisha. Yet he hadn't. He needed to feel her there. He wanted to keep her there until Clay made them leave again so that they could follow yet another lead on Max.

But upon hearing Pooch's answer to Jolene, Cougar stopped and waited for Pooch's question. Although he knew what Pooch wanted to know. Pooch had already asked once. Of course he wouldn't forget that he hadn't gotten an answer.

Pooch made his way to where Cougar had walked to. He stopped right in front of the sniper and stood a few inches from his face. "What was that man? What did Ana say earlier?" Pooch paused before continuing. "And you know I don't mean what Ana missed doing with you. What did she say in Spanish when she thought she was having a nightmare? She whispered it. And she sounded so…I don't know the right word man, but hell, I felt like my heart broke into pieces when she said whatever it was like that."

Cougar nodded. He understood. He understood all too well. "Ana said, 'No wonder Uncle Cougar hates to sleep.'"

THE END

*tears in eyes at having to say goodbye*

(More stories to come.)


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